Michael Harris
08-23-2003, 10:36 PM
A victim should be protected from the criminal and the criminal’s lawyer. This one bothers me. It is not in the US, but there are probably cases just like this here.
Private Eye Snoops on Drink-Drive Crash Victim Over Her Claim For Compensation.
A Devon woman badly hurt in a crash with a drink-driver has discovered that she has been spied on by a private eye working for the insurers due to pay her compensation.
Stella Harrison, 36, still walks with the aid of crutches almost two years after being cut from the wreckage of the horrific car smash.
The drink-driver responsible for the collision was jailed and his insurance company accepted liability.
However, in a bizarre development, Mrs Harrison was sent a file which had been compiled on her and her two daughters, Traci, 15, and Leah, 12, by a firm of private investigators.
It included a detailed map of her Colaton Raleigh home, a psychological report on her and details of her benefits.
The document was posted to her - apparently by a burglar - following a raid on the premises of investigation firm Kirk International.
Mrs Harrison said she and her family were frightened by the realisation that someone had been investigating her.
She said: "Not only was I horrified to discover there was a private investigator watching my house, but I have found out the file was stolen and I have no idea who has seen it. I worry that my daughters are at risk.
"Anyone could be trying to use the information in that file."
Mrs Harrison was left with broken wrists and a fractured collarbone following the accident caused by the drink-driver in October 2001. One of her legs was fractured in six places and has not knitted together again despite several operations at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital.
Leah suffered a broken leg.
The private investigator was hired after an Exeter-based solicitor acting for Mrs Harrison put in a compensation claim for more than £100,000.
Mrs Harrison's solicitor, Laurence Vick, of law firm Michelmores, accused the insurance firm of "secret snooping" in a desperate attempt to dig up dirt where none existed.
He said: "My only conclusion is that Fortis chose to instigate this unwarranted investigation because they were faced with a considerable claim. What they have done has gone against the spirit of openness and co-operation with which I have been making Stella's claim.
"She is a fine member of the community who, before the accident, had achieved an incredible amount for a working single mother in her position. I understand that occasionally insurance companies may investigate claims when there is reasonable grounds for suspicion that the claim is bogus or symptoms have been exaggerated. But that is absolutely not the case in this instance.
"Stella has received serious injury and trauma as a result of this accident, which has put her career on hold permanently and affected her whole family. I am shocked and astonished at the conduct of this insurance company."
The private eye's file revealed that Fortis Insurance had commissioned Hampshire company Kirk International to carry out a surveillance operation on Mrs Harrison to discover whether her health claims were genuine.
The file, which is now in Mrs Harrison's hands, showed that an undercover investigator, posing as a member of the public responding to a car advert, approached Mrs Harrison's home on May 14 while she was away on holiday. The man quizzed a builder who was working on Mrs Harrison's home, asking questions about her personal life and what car she drove.
This initial probe was designed as a forerunner to a two-day investigation in which Mrs Harrison's movements outside her home would be logged and video-taped by a Kirk employee.
However, the burglary at Kirk International on June 17, interrupted the investigation. The firm said 30 files were stolen.
Mrs Harrison received the file which had been compiled on her and her family through the post last week.
The accident victim, who as a result of her injuries had to give up a place on an Exeter University course and was no longer able to continue caring for her foster daughter, said she did not feel secure in her own home and would never again trust an insurance company.
She said: "In pursuing a totally legitimate compensation claim, I have find myself the subject of an invasive investigation.
"Had it not been for the leak of these documents, I understand I would have been the subject of full video surveillance."
She said: "I just want closure on the whole nightmare, so I can begin to work on moving forward and regaining my family life.
"Not only am I still coming to terms with my physical injuries, I feel I am on trial."
Tony Bradshaw, of Kirk International, said the company had tightened security since the break-in.
He defended his company's conduct during the investigation of Mrs Harrison.
He said: "Normal practice was observed at all times when conducting the investigation which was suspended when we realised the file was missing."
Mr Bradshaw said that at no time would Mrs Harrison or her children have been harmed or troubled by the inquiry.
He said he did not know what could have motivated anyone to steal Mrs Harrison's file from the company office and send it to her.
Hampshire police confirmed that 30 files were stolen from a private investigation firm.
Mrs Harrison has been asked to return her file to police so it can be tested for fingerprints in an attempt to identify the burglar.
Fortis Insurance refused to comment on the case.
South Devon magistrates sentenced Gordon Benzie to five months in jail at a hearing in February last year after he admitted to being three-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit when he collided with Mrs Harrison's car.
Benzie, formerly of Stoneyford, Colaton Raleigh, was on the wrong side of the road when his Renault Laguna smashed into Mrs Harrison's Ford Escort.
She had been driving home along the B3128 near East Budleigh with her three children after a Hallowe'en party.
Private Eye Snoops on Drink-Drive Crash Victim Over Her Claim For Compensation.
A Devon woman badly hurt in a crash with a drink-driver has discovered that she has been spied on by a private eye working for the insurers due to pay her compensation.
Stella Harrison, 36, still walks with the aid of crutches almost two years after being cut from the wreckage of the horrific car smash.
The drink-driver responsible for the collision was jailed and his insurance company accepted liability.
However, in a bizarre development, Mrs Harrison was sent a file which had been compiled on her and her two daughters, Traci, 15, and Leah, 12, by a firm of private investigators.
It included a detailed map of her Colaton Raleigh home, a psychological report on her and details of her benefits.
The document was posted to her - apparently by a burglar - following a raid on the premises of investigation firm Kirk International.
Mrs Harrison said she and her family were frightened by the realisation that someone had been investigating her.
She said: "Not only was I horrified to discover there was a private investigator watching my house, but I have found out the file was stolen and I have no idea who has seen it. I worry that my daughters are at risk.
"Anyone could be trying to use the information in that file."
Mrs Harrison was left with broken wrists and a fractured collarbone following the accident caused by the drink-driver in October 2001. One of her legs was fractured in six places and has not knitted together again despite several operations at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital.
Leah suffered a broken leg.
The private investigator was hired after an Exeter-based solicitor acting for Mrs Harrison put in a compensation claim for more than £100,000.
Mrs Harrison's solicitor, Laurence Vick, of law firm Michelmores, accused the insurance firm of "secret snooping" in a desperate attempt to dig up dirt where none existed.
He said: "My only conclusion is that Fortis chose to instigate this unwarranted investigation because they were faced with a considerable claim. What they have done has gone against the spirit of openness and co-operation with which I have been making Stella's claim.
"She is a fine member of the community who, before the accident, had achieved an incredible amount for a working single mother in her position. I understand that occasionally insurance companies may investigate claims when there is reasonable grounds for suspicion that the claim is bogus or symptoms have been exaggerated. But that is absolutely not the case in this instance.
"Stella has received serious injury and trauma as a result of this accident, which has put her career on hold permanently and affected her whole family. I am shocked and astonished at the conduct of this insurance company."
The private eye's file revealed that Fortis Insurance had commissioned Hampshire company Kirk International to carry out a surveillance operation on Mrs Harrison to discover whether her health claims were genuine.
The file, which is now in Mrs Harrison's hands, showed that an undercover investigator, posing as a member of the public responding to a car advert, approached Mrs Harrison's home on May 14 while she was away on holiday. The man quizzed a builder who was working on Mrs Harrison's home, asking questions about her personal life and what car she drove.
This initial probe was designed as a forerunner to a two-day investigation in which Mrs Harrison's movements outside her home would be logged and video-taped by a Kirk employee.
However, the burglary at Kirk International on June 17, interrupted the investigation. The firm said 30 files were stolen.
Mrs Harrison received the file which had been compiled on her and her family through the post last week.
The accident victim, who as a result of her injuries had to give up a place on an Exeter University course and was no longer able to continue caring for her foster daughter, said she did not feel secure in her own home and would never again trust an insurance company.
She said: "In pursuing a totally legitimate compensation claim, I have find myself the subject of an invasive investigation.
"Had it not been for the leak of these documents, I understand I would have been the subject of full video surveillance."
She said: "I just want closure on the whole nightmare, so I can begin to work on moving forward and regaining my family life.
"Not only am I still coming to terms with my physical injuries, I feel I am on trial."
Tony Bradshaw, of Kirk International, said the company had tightened security since the break-in.
He defended his company's conduct during the investigation of Mrs Harrison.
He said: "Normal practice was observed at all times when conducting the investigation which was suspended when we realised the file was missing."
Mr Bradshaw said that at no time would Mrs Harrison or her children have been harmed or troubled by the inquiry.
He said he did not know what could have motivated anyone to steal Mrs Harrison's file from the company office and send it to her.
Hampshire police confirmed that 30 files were stolen from a private investigation firm.
Mrs Harrison has been asked to return her file to police so it can be tested for fingerprints in an attempt to identify the burglar.
Fortis Insurance refused to comment on the case.
South Devon magistrates sentenced Gordon Benzie to five months in jail at a hearing in February last year after he admitted to being three-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit when he collided with Mrs Harrison's car.
Benzie, formerly of Stoneyford, Colaton Raleigh, was on the wrong side of the road when his Renault Laguna smashed into Mrs Harrison's Ford Escort.
She had been driving home along the B3128 near East Budleigh with her three children after a Hallowe'en party.