The Tribunals Service has ruled that a boy who was battered by another child at the age of three is eligible for compensation, despite the fact his assailant is too young to face criminal charges.

The Independent newspaper reports that Jay Jones was left in a car with another child, also aged three, who picked up a car jack and hit him with it about the head repeatedly, leaving him bleeding and semi-conscious.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) had previously ruled that, because the attacker was below the age of criminal responsibility – currently set at 10 years’ old – Jay was not eligible for compensation. However, the Tribunals Service overturned this judgment, with a landmark ruling that solicitors say could ‘open up the floodgates’ for compensation claims. The new ruling means those claiming compensation will only have to prove they have been victims of a criminal act.

The legal representative of Jay’s family said the decision of the CICA to reject the claim for compensation on the grounds the child’s attacker was below the age of criminal responsibility had been ‘risible’.

‘When we went on the first appeal it was argued by CICA that it was an accident, which is so ridiculous as to be unbelievable,’ he said. ‘The doctor in the hospital had described our client's injuries as the worst of a child that age sustained at the hands of a child of equal age with a weapon.

He added that ‘scrapes in the playground’ should not attract awards – but said that some serious incidents in playgrounds and on school premises which had previously been turned down by the CICA might now be eligible for an award for compensation.

The child who struck Jay hit him 11 times with the carjack – and also managed to crack the car’s windscreen. Jay’s mother, Renai Williams, 29, said:

‘To this day, I still have no idea why that boy attacked my son. Nobody has ever bothered to give me a reason why, it will always remain a total mystery.’

The family’s solicitor added: ‘It's a landmark decision, there's no previous precedent. It opens the floodgates and I'm quite sure there will be a lot of cases.’

The child who attacked Jay has now been taken into care.
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