Hudgell Solicitors

Legal Director

Malcolm joined Lime Solicitors on the 17th May 2021 to head their Child Abuse Compensation team.

He is a solicitor advocate, who has represented his clients at trial, inquests, in the Upper Tier Tribunal and in the Court of Appeal.

Malcolm is a Fellow of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and a member of the Law Society’s Personal Injury Panel as well as being a Founder Member of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers.

Clientele

Malcolm is well known for his work in child abuse compensation claims, including claims against local authorities, the church, hospitals and individuals. He has also represented a number of clients in group actions. These include :-

The Lambeth Children’s Homes Redress Scheme – Malcolm has represented around 80 former children in the care of the London Borough of Lambeth, who have made claims to the Lambeth Children’s Homes Redress Scheme.

The St James/St Vedast compensation scheme – set up for former pupils of this school in London owned by the Independent Educational Association Limited.

The Jesus Army compensation scheme – set up by the Jesus Fellowship Church Trust in Northamptonshire to compensate both children and adults who suffered abuse whilst in the care of the church. Malcolm advises the Jesus Fellowship Survivors Association in relation to the creation of the compensation scheme.

The Myles Bradbury compensation scheme – Malcolm has acted and continues to act for a number of former children who were abused by the disgraced child cancer specialist, Myles Bradbury who was employed by Addenbrookes Hospital.

Malcolm also has experience in public inquiries. He has acted for a number of Core Participants in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and the Grenfell Tower Inquiry

Notable work

Malcolm is one of the authors of the Third Edition of Child Abuse Compensation Claims (Lexis Nexis) and the writer of A Practical Guide to Prison Injury Claims ( Law Brief Publishing). He has also published An Advocates Guide to Complaints in England (Pavilion) and Care Leavers’ Rights – A Guide for Advocates. He is the creator of two websites – http://www.childabusecaselaw.com/ containing summaries of the main child abuse compensation cases and https://www.complaintadvocates.co.uk/ which contains summaries of decisions made by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

Malcolm has appeared on television and radio to talk about his work. He is an adviser to Coram Voice and other child focussed charities, and he lectures for MBL Seminars on child abuse compensation claims as well as injuries in prison.

Prominent cases

B v LB Ealing [2008] EWHC 1262 (QB) (reported on BAILLI) – damages awarded for physical and emotional harm including a claim for wasted expenditure on alcohol.

ABC v P [2011] EWHC 1953 (QB) QBD 04/05/2011 (reported on Lawtel) – dissipation of assets in a freezing injunction in relation to a claim for sexual offences including voyeurism.

VN and SN v Brent and Others [2016] EWHC 936 (QB) – claim brought against local authority for failure to remove from foster care and direct claim against foster parents.

CICA v First Tier Tribunal and Y [2017] EWCA Civ 139 – application to Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority for “double dose” of defective gene imparted to child born of consanguineous and abusive relationship