Woman should be given Troubles victims payment, says court

A woman who was turned down for a Troubles victims payment has had that decision quashed in the High Court.

Jeanitta Larkin was just 10 years old when her father Peter McCabe was shot by the IRA at the family home in Newry in 1990.

They both applied to the Troubles Permanent Disability Payment Scheme but were told the attack did not qualify as a Troubles-related incident as it was a paramilitary style shooting.

Jeanitta Larkin welcomed the development but said it has been a "really traumatic journey" for the family.

The Troubles Permanent Disability Payment Scheme was established to provide financial support for those living with physical or psychological injuries sustained during the conflict.

At the High Court on Wednesday Justice Scoffield said he had identified a legal error in the decision to deny compensation under the scheme to Larkin and her father.

He also backed their challenge to the qualifying guidance for payouts which says punishment attacks carried out by paramilitary vigilantes may be ineligible.

Justice Schofield said both their compensation applications should now be looked at again by a Victims' Payments Board panel.

Following the decision, a spokesperson for the Victims' Payments Board said it will "take time to consider the full judicial review judgment in detail before determining the appropriate next steps".

Larkin said she is "really relieved the judgement is out there" and that the family can move on.

"I think that the fact we have been acknowledged and our suffering has been acknowledged, so we are happy with that," she said.

Larkin said she hopes the judgement "gives other victims the strength to stand up and say 'this is wrong'".

She said she did not find the process was "very victim centred a lot of the time".

Larkin and her father's case will now go back before the Victims' Payment Board for re-assessment.

Setanta Marley of KRW Law represented the family and welcomed the judgement.

"Our applicants have waited a long time for it, they have been vindicated by the judgement," Marley said.

He said it "means a lot" and "they are very relieved to have reached the end of this process".

The judgement could have a wider impact as it is thought hundreds of victims of paramilitary style attacks who may also have been turned down by the Victims Payment Board, could now be considering appealing too.

"I would estimate that there are hundreds - if not more - applications that are waiting on the outcome of this judgement because it has such a wide-ranging impact on our society," Marley said.