Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority v First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) and another (British Pregnancy Advisory Service and Birthrights and another intervening) – WLR Daily

Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority v First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) and another (British Pregnancy Advisory Service and Birthrights and another intervening) [2014] EWCA Civ 1554; [2014] WLR (D) 520

‘A mother who drank alcohol to excess while she was pregnant, resulting her child being born with permanent damage from foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, was not criminally liable for administering poison to “any other person” so as to inflict grievous bodily harm contrary to section 23 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. Because a foetus was not “any other person” for the purposes of section 23, and the harm had been inflicted on the child while she was in the womb, the child was not entitled to criminal injuries compensation.’

WLR Daily, 4th December 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk