Pineapple junk – judge's verdict on officer's £1.5m claim

A FORMER policewoman who claimed £1.5 million in damages after she was struck by a flying pineapple during a riot has been branded a liar by a judge and awarded just £3,000.

Tracey Ormsby, 37, claimed the mental trauma she experienced in the wake of an attack by a hostile mob at Govanhill Baths in Glasgow in 2001 had turned her into a virtual recluse. The "psychological injuries" led her to leave the force, she said.

But yesterday a judge cast doubt on the true extent of her mental trauma after hearing evidence that she had managed to go on a string of holidays abroad, attend a gym and find a new boyfriend after splitting up with her married lover.

Ms Ormsby was also accused by the lover, a detective, of trying to blackmail him into giving perjured evidence for her. She had threatened to send photographs to his wife, he said.

The court also heard that after she had convinced a doctor to diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder, she had exclaimed: "Ker-ching!" It was a word used to mean "I am in the money".

Lord Malcolm ruled that she was entitled to a modest award for her minor physical injuries in the riot, but he rejected her claim for psychological harm.

At the Court of Session in Edinburgh, he said: "I consider that at best for her there is a very considerable degree of exaggeration in her account of her disabilities."

The judge said Ms Ormsby had been robust, combative and feisty under cross-examination in the witness box, and added: "I cannot reconcile the person I saw with the fearful and fragile person described in some of the medical reports. The holidays and other activities directly contradict the suggestion of a withdrawn, isolated individual."

Ms Ormsby, of Paisley, had served around eight years with Strathclyde Police when ordered to attend the baths on 7 August, 2001. Their closure had been opposed by many people, and the police lined up to keep protesters away while workmen boarded up the building. Violence flared over several hours.

A no-arrest policy was adopted, to try to minimise damage to community relations. Missiles thrown at police included bricks, potatoes and traffic cones. They were also sprayed with urine. Ms Ormsby said: "We were told to stand there and smile at them… do not speak to them, smile at them…because (media] cameras were there."

Ms Ormsby had been struck by a pineapple on the chest, and was off work for a few weeks. She retired on grounds of ill-health in 2004, and blamed psychological trauma associated with the baths riot for losing a promising career. She sued Strathclyde's chief constable for £1.5 million.

The judge said the senior officer in charge had owed a duty of care to the officers, and breached it by the way the officers continued to be deployed in a cordon "once the risk of serious injury became apparent".

But the judge concluded: "I am left in very considerable doubt as to the true extent of any disabilities from which she may be suffering. Whatever the true extent of any psychological problems, I am unable to hold it proved they were caused by the negligence of the officer in charge at Govanhill.

"Rather, it is more likely they can be accounted for by her pre-existing psychological vulnerability allied to other events such as problems at work and other stressful events in her life."

'We must not become a society bent on litigation'

LORD Malcolm has been a judge for only 18 months, but already he has encountered two cases which could be described as products of the compensation culture.

Fuelled by enormous payouts which seem commonplace in the United States for all manner of weird and wonderful situations, and by offers at every turn from no-win, no-fee lawyers, people on this side of the Atlantic are much more inclined to cry, "Who can I sue?" whenever misfortune befalls them.

The rationale is that you are not taking money from the person because an insurance company pays.

A generation ago, who would have imagined that someone knocked over by a dog running in a field would go to the highest civil court in Scotland, the Court of Session in Edinburgh, and ask for damages?

To the relief of dog owners throughout the country, Lord Malcolm ruled earlier this year that Ebony the Labrador's keeper could not be branded negligent for what had been "a pure accident", even if he had not kept his pet on a lead.

Matters might be different in other circumstances and you could never say never, the judge declared, but the courts must not help create "a society bent on litigation".