Forty make claims in abuse inquiry

Monday 14th June 2010, 2:59PM BST.

COMPENSATION claims are being made on behalf of about 40 people for alleged abuse they suffered while in the care of Jersey’s Health and Social Services.

The claimants, whose cases have followed on from the States police’s historical child abuse inquiry, are being represented by David Coleman, founding partner of the Dublin-based legal practice Lavelle Coleman.

The company recently successfully represented 1,500 clients who made claims for compensation as victims of abuse in care and residential institutions in southern Ireland between the 1940s and 1970s, which led to a major investigation.

Mr Coleman, a qualified solicitor in both Ireland and England, is hoping to negotiate with Jersey’s authorities the setting up of a form of tribunal or redress board in the Island to consider these claims in a similar way to how they were dealt with in southern Ireland.

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