Man who claimed Paddington train crash turned him into a killer can claim compensation

Kerrie Gray claimed he had been 'perfectly normal' until his personality was transformed by the accident in which 31 died and hundreds were injured.

Two years later, he killed John Boultwood with a kitchen knife after the father of two hammered drunkenly on his car window.

Killer: Kerrie Gray

Victim: John Boultwood

At his trial in 2003, Gray admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was ordered to be held indefinitely in a secure mental hospital  -  where he remains.

The Appeal Court yesterday ruled that he can claim compensation for the earnings lost as a result of being locked up since he committed the crime.

Gray, a 48-year-old former council administrator from Tilbury, Essex, was travelling to work when the train collided head-on with another near Paddington in West London in October 1999.

He suffered minor injuries, but claims that as a result of the accident his personality was profoundly altered. From being very passive, he started to experience bouts of uncontrollable rage.

Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he became withdrawn, emotionally unstable and his relationship with his girlfriend deteriorated.

Gray's lawyer, Anthony Scrivener QC, claimed that it was this altered mental state that caused him to stab Mr Boultwood, a 42-year-old welder, seven times in August 2001.

The scene after the rail crash outside Paddington station in 1999

Most Paddington survivors have claimed compensation for mental and physical injuries.

Thames Trains and Network Rail have already agreed to pay Gray damages for his injuries, but they refuse to compensate him beyond the point in 2001 at which he was held for the crime.

They are relying on a legal principle by which individuals cannot sue for something that results from an evil act they themselves committed.

Yesterday, Britain's top civil judge, Master of the Rolls Sir Anthony Clarke, declared that this principle 'should be revisited' as in this case Gray's crime was itself 'caused' by the rail crash.

The ruling means that Gray is likely to receive at least some of the £300,000 he is seeking from the train companies.

The final amount will be determined after further High Court hearings which will decide to what extent  -  if any  -  both Gray and the rail companies were 'responsible' for the killing.

The decision was greeted with outrage by the family of Gray's victim.

Mr Boultwood's mother, Edith Sinclair, 74, said: 'I can't believe it. So he will get rich by killing a person? How can that man blame it on the crash? It was two years after.'