Criminal Damage
Criminal Damage (Compensation) (NI) 1977 provides for compensation for criminal damage. Compensation is payable by the Secretary of State for damage caused as a result of an act committed on or after 1st April 1978 to any property or to any unlawful removal of property in specified circumstances.
There is provision for compensation for malicious and deliberate damage caused to agricultural property and buildings. This extends to livestock, machinery, food crops, etc., in or unlawfully removed from the premises in question.
There is provision for compensation for damage unlawfully, maliciously, and wantonly caused to a building which enjoys a charitable status for rates purposes.
Where damage has been unlawfully, maliciously, or wantonly caused to property by three or more persons unlawfully, riotously, or tumultuously assembled or as a result of an act committed maliciously by a person acting on behalf or in connection with an unlawful association, compensation may be paid on application by the Secretary of State.
Where the Chief Constable is of the opinion that the act was committed maliciously by a person acting in connection with an unlawful association, he shall issue a certificate so confirming, and this is presumptive evidence for the purpose of an application.
Where three or more persons tumultuously or riotously assemble together, unlawfully, maliciously, or wantonly cause damage, the aggregate value of which exceeds £200 to a building or property within its cartilage, and in the course of a riot or personally unlawfully removes any property, the Secretary of State is to pay compensation for persons who have an interest in the property concerned.
An applicant is not entitled to compensation unless he or a person who has an interest in the property to which the application relates within 10 days from the date of the act giving rise to the claim is committed, serves a preliminary notice of his intention to seek compensation on the Secretary of State, police, or such other prescribed persons. The preliminary notice is to be in a prescribed form and shall fully and truthfully disclose facts as to the place, time, and date at which the incident occurred and the nature of the property damaged.
The application is to be made in such a form as is prescribed. The Secretary of State may require further information in relation to the application to determine it.
In determining compensation, the Secretary of State is to have regard to all the circumstances, including any failure of the applicant to take reasonable precautions to avoid the loss or reduce it, failure of the applicant to comply with statutory provisions relating to the safety of property; an unlawful purpose for which the property was being used and any unlawful use of the property by the applicant, including unlawful sale of liquor. If the property is a motor vehicle, whether it had a licence; or any provocative or negligent behaviour of the applicant which contributed, directly or indirectly, to the loss or increased the chances of its being sustained.
The Secretary of State may serve notice on the applicant requiring him to state the precautions he took to reduce or avoid the loss.
Compensation shall not be payable in respect of loss suffered by reason of the total or partial destruction of any coins, notes or currency; any loss or damage due to or unlawful removal of articles of personal ornament including watches or jewellery, unless kept by the owner as part of the stock in trade or any loss if and to the extent to which reparation or damage has been recovered or is recoverable under any other statutory provision or at common law.
Compensation shall not be payable for any loss if the person suffering the loss connived at, assisted, or actively or willingly facilitated the occurrence or contributed to the damage or unlawful removal from which the loss arose or if he was at that or about that time associated or combined in league with persons causing it.
Compensation shall not be payable to or for the benefit of a person who has been a member of an unlawful association at any time, or is such a member; or who has been engaged in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism at any time or is so engaged.
Compensation shall not be payable for an intangible asset such as an easement or loss of mere pleasure or amenity. Compensation is not to be payable in respect of so much of the loss as is attributable to neglect or failure on the part of the person suffering the loss.
Compensation is not payable for a loss less than £200. If compensation is for a sum exceeding this, the loss is to be reduced by the sum. No more than one such reduction may happen in 12 months.
Payments of compensation may be withheld until the applicant has complied with all reasonable requests for information and assistance which might lead to the identification and apprehension of the persons who committed the act giving rise to the cause for compensation.
Where the amount of compensation for loss resulting from damage to a building exceeds its reduction in market value, as a result, the Secretary of State may impose conditions on payment of the excess party, including withholding of the part unless and until the repair or reinstatement works are carried out.
Where a tenant is bound by a repairing covenant and the premises are damaged in circumstances that compensation is payable and any repairs have not been complied with at the expense of the tenant, an assessment of damage for breach of the covenant shall not include any sums greater than the diminution in loss of the landlord’s reversion.
Compensation may be paid in one or more parts but shall generally be in a lump sum. Monies may also be paid for the costs of making out and verifying the claim for compensation. Where the person entitled to compensation cannot be found, is a minor or where a notice of assignment thereof has been received, the monies may be paid into court.
The Secretary of State may serve notice of any decision or order in connection with an application on persons who appear likely to be affected by it. Persons aggrieved by a decision or order may appeal to the county court within six weeks. The Secretary of State may make a payment in the court in the like manner as in a civil action.
Where persons convicted of an offence; and compensation has been paid in respect of damage or unlawful removal of property attributable to that offence, the court may, on application by the Secretary of State, make an order directing the offender to reimburse the compensation paid to the Secretary of State. The order may provide for payment in a lump sum or by periodic payments. Before making such an order, the court is to give the opportunity to the offender to be heard. It is to have regard to the financial position of the offender, his possibility in future employments, liabilities and such other circumstances as the court considers relevant.
Where compensation is paid and civil proceedings are later instituted in any court against the offender as a result of the act that gave rise to the claim for compensation, and the court awards damages against the offender in favour of the applicant; or it is settled, the court may order the offender to pay the damages so awarded into court. Where such an order is made, it shall direct the Secretary of State to be paid, have the money paid into court or such sum as would have been reimbursed to him in respect of compensation previously paid and the balance is to be dealt with for the benefit of the applicant, as the court directs.
Where, the county court is satisfied, on application made by the Secretary of State, that the Secretary of State has paid compensation but that person has failed to make a full and true disclosure of the facts, the county court may make an order requiring the person to reimburse the Secretary of State such part of the compensation as may be specified.
Any sum required to be reimbursed to the Secretary of State and not so reimbursed is recoverable as a debt due. It may be recovered from the High Court or civil court by civil bill.
In any application for compensation, the fact that a person has been convicted of an offence before any court in the British Islands is admissible in evidence for the purpose of proving the acts or omissions or conduct on which it was based, a subsisting conviction may be admissible in evidence only.
It is an offence to knowingly make a false claim for compensation or to make any misleading statement or statement which a person knows to be untrue or fails to disclose a material fact. They may be prosecuted on indictment with imprisonment up to five years or a lump sum fine or summarily and a fine up to level 5 on the standard scales.