Former pupil wins claim for battery and false imprisonment at Mulberry Bush School

A court ruled he was restrained face down by staff three times and that a towel was placed around the door of his room to stop him leaving it 14 times. 

A judge awarded the victim, now aged 25, £18,900 including aggravated damages, to be paid by the school in compensation for the ordeal suffered when he was nine years old. 

An anonymity order prevents identification of the former pupil and his father, who brought the claim on his behalf. They are referred to as FSX and JLM in the judgment given on Friday 8 November 2024. 

FSX was sent to Mulberry Bush School as a boarder in June 2008. He was a ‘looked-after’ child and was placed at the school by Camden social services department. 

In early 2009, his father JLM raised concerns about bruising to his son’s arms which had shocked him when FSX came to stay in the school holidays. 

His son complained that staff had restrained him, by holding him face down on his bed, but when JLM raised the issue with the school he was told that children displaying dangerous behaviours needed to be controlled. 

JLM stated that in May 2009, when he visited the school for a Looked After Child Review, he found FSX to have very "obvious and significant bruises" on both of his arms. 

However, in the judgment, it was noted that the school had acknowledged that it hadn’t investigated the bruising for four months. 

By September 2009, after the school continued to use face-down restraint on FSX, and confine him to his room unlawfully, his father removed him from Mulberry Bush. 

FSX, and his litigation friend JLM were represented in the legal claim by Leigh Day partner Emma Jones. 

The claim was resisted by Mulberry Bush School and eventually it was heard by the High Court in a trial in three different tranches  over the course of a year. 

The judge ruled that on three occasions FXS was restrained face-down by a member of staff and each occasion constituted battery. 

She said the seclusion of FXS, by placing a towel in the doorway of his room to prevent him from leaving, constituted unlawful imprisonment. This occurred on 14 occasions,  

including 15 May 2009, when FXS was falsely imprisoned for nearly five hours. Six times the imprisonment lasted for more than 20 minutes. The school continued to use the towel method even after JLM raised objections in an email dated 8 September 2009. In that email, JLM referred to FXS being “forcibly detained” and that this was contrary to legislation. The practice also continued after the social worker stated on 14 September 2024 that she was “not happy” with the towel method. 

The judge did not accept that there had been negligence. 

She said she awarded aggravated damages because there was a failure to appreciate the significance and seriousness of a member of staff using a face-down restraint. The member of staff who applied the face down restraint repeated it twice more after it had been discussed with her by a senior staff member. The judge said there was a reluctance to acknowledge the school’s prohibition on face-down restraints and some witnesses refused to accept the plain wording of the daily incident reports. 

In a statement following the ruling, JLM said: 

"As recently as May 2022 a child died after being restrained face down at nursery school; her death made national headlines. 

“My own son was restrained face down at school at least three times at the age of 10 and could have asphyxiated as a result. Restraining a child face down is an extremely dangerous practice, though incredibly it still goes on in some of Britain's schools. 

“The judge in my son's case also found that the school had falsely imprisoned him in a confined space on several occasions. Over the years I have read many accounts of children in the UK being forcibly trapped in rooms for various reasons; some schools euphemistically call these "calming rooms" but the experience can be terrifying and emotionally damaging. 

“After I had withdrawn my son from the school for safety reasons I raised a complaint with Oxfordshire social services. No action was taken, so it was left to me to make a civil claim (on behalf of my son) which took over a decade to be heard in court. 

“Despite the length of time that has passed, the issue of physical abuse in schools is very much still a 'live' issue. I would ask the press in the UK to highlight my son's story to expose the use of prone (face down) restraint and false imprisonment in Britain's schools, and perhaps help to eradicate these practices." 

Leigh Day partner Emma Jones said: 

“The judge ruled that the restraint and confinement of my client amounted to battery and false imprisonment. It is a great relief and vindication for my clients that the abuse has been called out for the unlawful practice that it is. But Mulberry Bush School did not recognise their abuse and resisted the claim for 14 years.  

“Residential schools should be a place of safety for autistic pupils, staff should never resort to unlawful practices in their attempts to manage their behaviour.  

“In addition, the suffering for my clients was lengthened by the refusal of the school to accept the allegations.”