Women Fight EX GP Who Abused Them As Children

Pepperells Solicitors, who have offices in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the North East have won a substantial case to for Yorkshire women who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of their trusted GP in Halifax.

Women have come forward to allege being sexually abused as a child over a number of years by a West Yorkshire GP.

Pepperells Solicitors act on behalf of these women and compensation has now been awarded through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA).

The women have both named former Halifax GP Dr Thomas Cairns as their abuser, from when he ran his own surgery in the town in the 70’s and 80’s. Dr Cairns retired in 1996 and died 10 years later.

They both kept the abuse secret for decades until one of the pair detailed what had happened to her friend – only to find she had suffered in the same way.

They believe many other people may have been abused as children.

Our Client said:

“These incidents took place out of hours when only the doctor was in the surgery, I was told to come round the back of the surgery down a narrow cobbled street. I trusted the doctor and thought this was normal. Doctors were respected and there was a fear that I would not be believed, I was only a young girl at the time.

I was relieved each time the examination was over and that I could put it to the back of my mind, now I feel ashamed that I didn’t tell anyone at the time. I finally had the courage to talk to my friend, I was glad I finally spoke out but felt awful that this had also happened to her.

We decided to go to the police together, the constable and colleague were fantastic and put me at ease straight away. I have no doubt at all that I was believed but as the GP had died the only thing that could be done was to record the complaint. I have lived with this for years and whilst this has taken a great deal of courage and determination to talk about this now, given that this has happened to me and my best friend, we feel there must be more people that have been affected.” Victoria Neale, Deputy Head of Dispute Resolution at Pepperells Solicitors said “These two ladies have been friends for many years and for 30 years they never spoke to one another about the abuse that they suffered when being seen by this doctor.

It is very difficult for people to come forward and talk about abuse. People often carry it with them alone for decades, as these two ladies did until one of them felt she needed to tell her friend. When she too said she had been abused, they realised there may have been more wide-scale offending and went to the police.

“In my career I have dealt with similar cases, where after a first victim had been brave enough to speak out, many others then came forward, who each independently gave accounts of almost identical abuse happening to them. We’d like to hear from anybody else who suffered in a similar way.”

“With cases such as this, people have spent so long with this secret and when an award of compensation is made, it is the acceptance from clients which means so much. The second case is currently awaiting psychological evidence and an award is likely to be made thereafter.”

Pepperells would like to encourage any other people who may have been subject to similar abuse like this to get in touch for a confidential conversation about their experience.

Pepperells Solicitors are a fast paced, modern, full service firm offering legal solutions in practice areas of Family Law, Property & Housing, Business Services, Criminal Defence, Civil Matters, Contentious Probate, Medical Negligence and Wills & Probate. For more information, call 01482 326511 or visit www.pepperells.com