No compensation for British victims of terrorism abroad (From The Northern Echo)

No compensation for British victims of terrorism abroad

9:03am Tuesday 24th November 2009 in

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THE mother of a North-East woman killed in a Turkey bomb blast has condemned a “disgraceful”

U-turn that will deny compensation to victims of terror attacks abroad.

Gordon Brown has shocked campaigners by dropping plans – expected to have been included in last week’s Queen’s speech – to provide the same financial help as available after atrocities within Britain.

The climbdown is believed to have followed a lastminute intervention by the Ministry of Defence, which warned that it would trigger claims from soldiers injured by terror groups while serving abroad that could reach £500m.

With the General Election only months away, it throws huge doubt on whether the loophole will be closed, despite promises by Labour ministers dating back many years.

Last night, Sharon Holden, who lost her 21-year-old daughter, Helyn Bennett, when a minibus bomb exploded in the resort of Kusedasi, in July 2005, warned the U-turn would increase the suffering of families.

Only last month, Mrs Holden, from Spennymoor, County Durham, was awarded £1,099,531 in compensation by the Turkish government – but only after a four-year legal battle.

She said: “It’s absolutely disgraceful, but what we were expecting, because it is the third time that the Government has said it was going to do something.

“Now it looks as if it will be shelved again when the Government should be helping affected people in the future, so they don’t have to fight for four years as we had to when no help was forthcoming.”

The family received no financial help from the British government and a £5,000 insurance payment did not come close to covering the funeral costs, or the medical bills of five other family members seriously injured in the blast.

In stark contrast, the families of victims of the 2005 tube and bus bombings in London typically received £100,000 each. The most horrifically injured received £500,000.

When the Turkish payout was confirmed last month – compensation for Miss Bennett’s death and her five injured relatives – Sharon said she hoped it would finally shame the UK government into action.

However, behind the scenes, the MoD was lobbying Downing Street to pull the measure, apparently after learning that The Sun newspaper was going to campaign for similarly retrospective compensation for soldiers.

Yet the cost of extending existing terror compensation laws to about 200 British citizens killed abroad, and a further 150 left maimed, had been estimated by the Treasury at less than £4m.

Yesterday, a No 10 spokesman said it “hoped to make an announcement as soon as possible”, but added: “There is a strong case for introducing a compensation scheme, but there are some complex issues.'