House of Lords
Published June 19, 2009
Gray v Thames Trains Ltd and Another
Before Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry and Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood
Speeches June 17, 2009

A claimant who, as a result of a railway accident caused by the defendants’ negligence, suffered post-traumatic stress disorder which led him to kill someone, could not recover damages for loss of earnings following his detention, in prison and in mental hospital, after the killing.

The House of Lords so held when:

(i) restoring the decision of Mr Justice Flaux ([2007] EWHC 1558 (QB)) to that effect in respect of a claim by the claimant, Kerrie Francis Gray;

(ii) thereby allowing an appeal by the defendants, Thames Trains Ltd and Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd, formerly Railtrack plc, against the order of the Court of Appeal (Sir Anthony Clarke, Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice Tuckey and Lady Justice Smith) (The Times July 9, 2008; [2009] 2 WLR 351) reversing the judge.

The defendants had admitted liability in negligence for damages up to the date the claimant had committed manslaughter but claimed that the policy ex turpi causa non oritur actio: no right of action arises from a base cause, precluded recovery after that date.

Mr Christopher Purchas, QC and Mr Steven Snowden for the defendants. Mr Anthony Scrivener, QC and Mr Toby Riley-Smith for Mr Gray.

LORD HOFFMANN said that in 1999 a three-car Turbo train operated by Thames Trains collided with a First Great Western high speed train approaching Paddington Station. 31 people were killed and over 500 injured. The accident was caused by the negligence of employees of the defendants.

Mr Gray, who was travelling in the Turbo train, was a local authority employee aged 39 who had led a relatively uneventful life. He sustained only minor physical injuries but the experience caused post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

On August 19, 2001, when he was receiving medication and treatment to relieve that condition, he became involved in an altercation with a drunken pedestrian who stepped into the path of his car.

When the incident was over, Mr Gray drove to the nearby house of his girl-friend’s parents, took a knife from a drawer, drove off in pursuit of the pedestrian, found him and stabbed him to death.

Mr Gray was charged with murder. The Crown accepted a plea of guilty to manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility caused by post-traumatic stress disorder.

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