Joyrider wins hope of legal aid to sue

A teenage joyrider could receive legal aid to sue social services
for not putting him into secure accommodation.

The boy and his mother want to sue the unnamed council for
negligence and breach of duty after he was severely injured in a
“foreseeable” crash as he drove a stolen car while being pursued by
police in 2001. The boy’s mother first referred him to social
services in 1999 because he was beyond her control and a threat to
his own safety.

He was remanded in secure accommodation after a number of offences
but released. Subsequent requests for him to go into a secure unit
were not acted on.

In the High Court this week, Mr Justice Pitchford ordered the Legal
Services Commission, which controls the legal aid fund, to review a
decision not to fund the negligence claim.