Omagh bomb victim made to strip by lawyers

A PROBE has been launched into a “degrading” ordeal suffered by an Omagh bomb victim who was forced to strip to her underwear in front of six lawyers assessing her compensation claim.

The Northern Ireland Office yesterday confirmed Victims' Minister Des Browne has begun an investigation into the circumstances of how Rosemary Ingram's claim was assessed.

Mrs Ingram, 53, revealed how one of those assessing her scars even moved her underwear to one side to get a better look at the wounds inflicted during the August 1998 atrocity. Three of the lawyers were male.

A NIO spokeswoman said: "We recognise this is a sensitive and painful issue for all concerned and the greatest possible care is taken in assessing compensation. Mr Browne is aware of Mrs Ingram's case and is checking into the issue."

Mrs Ingram suffered shrapnel injuries to her legs, buttock, head and right shoulder after being caught in the Real IRA explosion which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.

Despite photos taken by her husband Tom, Mrs Ingram said she was made to feel like a victim all over again when she went before the compensation agency panel.

"It was almost as if I wasn't believed," she said yesterday. "I had to virtually strip to prove it, and that was not only embarrassing but degrading and humiliating and felt like interrogation."

Former Northern Ireland Victims Commissioner Sir Kenneth Bloomfield questioned why the victims needed to be examined by lawyers when there were full medical reports on their injuries.

Kevin Skelton described how he took his 16-year-old daughter Shauna, whose face was scarred in the Omagh bomb, to be examined by lawyers from the Northern Ireland Office at the High Court in Belfast.

He said the lawyers had insisted on seeing her even though there was a "nine-inch thick" file of medical reports on her injuries.

"What really annoyed me was when the boy walked out of the room the comment that he made to another barrister was that it would be far worse if both sides of her face had been scarred," he said.

He said that his daughter had been devastated by the insensitivity of the lawyer's remark.

"She cried when she come home. She was absolutely gutted.

"It is bad enough having a scar on your face, a young girl of her age, without somebody making sarcastic remarks like that. I was devastated," he added.

Godfrey Wilson, whose 15-year-old daughter Lorraine was among the teenagers killed that day, said: "What has life come to? Terrorists who murdered and injured people are released and given grants to get their lives back in order.

"I had to search a hospital for my daughter, watching people with blood streaming out of them.

"I have two enemies the terrorists and British government officials."