Overview

• Leigh Day is challenging the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority’s refusal to compensate a woman anonymised as Kelly after she was sexually assaulted on a Qatar Airways flight to Gatwick last September.
• The agency denied a payout because the incident occurred on a plane not registered in Britain, even though UK authorities investigated the case and brought it to court.
• The attacker, Momade Jussab, was arrested on arrival at Gatwick and in May was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court to six and a half years for sexual assault by penetration and two counts of sexual assault.
• Kelly’s lawyers have written to Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood urging changes to align the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme with the Civil Aviation Act 1996, which allows UK prosecutions for crimes on foreign aircraft bound for the UK.
• A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said scheme rules and payment levels are set by Parliament and pointed to other routes for victim support.