LADY MARIE STUBBS CLAIMS £200K EXPERT WITNESS FEE FOR SCHOOL HAMMER ATTACK - Appearance charges from former St George’s headmistress described as ‘extraordinary’ by victim's mother

Published: 5 March 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM

THE former headmistress of St George’s School in Maida Vale has claimed around £200,000 for appearing as an expert witness for another school being sued by a pupil left brain-damaged in a hammer attack by a gang who broke into the playground.

Lady Marie Stubbs – who took over at St George’s five years after the previous headmaster, Philip Lawrence, was stabbed to death outside the school gates in 1995 – charged the fee for preparing a 30-page report and a three-day court appearance last month.

The case concerned Henry Webster, now 18, who was beaten with a hammer and left for dead at the Ridgeway School in Swindon three years ago.

Lady Stubbs’ report surrounded health and safety policy at the school, the debate over whether pupils should carry mobile phones and the weight of responsibility on teaching staff to police playgrounds at the end of the school day. 

Speaking as the hearing at the High Court came to an end this week, Henry’s mother, Ms Webster, said the fee was “extraordinary” and called on Ms Stubbs to give her fee to Frances Lawrence, the wife of the late Philip Law­rence. 

Lady Stubbs’ legal team from Everatt & Company solicitors said she was worth the fee.

Lady Stubbs drew on her experience at St George’s in Lanark Road, where her charisma and energy was credited with turning around the fortunes of the school. 

The Webster family had been hoping to win £1million compensation from Ridgeway School for what it claimed was their failure to protect Henry from the unprovoked attack by a gang who broke into the school grounds. 

Now they are saddled with a £750,000 legal bill, which will be met by insurers, after Mr Justice Nicol ruled that the school did not  breach its duty to take reasonable care to keep Mr Webster reasonably safe while on its premises. 

Everatt & Company confirmed the fee was in the region of £200,000. It will be paid by the insurance company used by the defendants, the Ridgeway School.

Michael Taite from Everatt & Company said: “The result shows that Lady Stubbs was right. She was an expert witness and people of that calibre in her field are few and far between. The amount of money is confidential, but everybody should be paid for their time.”

Lady Stubbs was unavailable to comment but told The Times newspaper that the fee had been negotiated by her agent. 

She told The Times: “I must sound a bit naive but I leave all that stuff (the fee) to my agent. I just tell her the time I spend on things. It was a huge job. 

“There was all the reading of documents and researching and to distill all that into something that is completely readable is a formidable task.”

Lady Stubbs’ memoirs from her time at St Georges, Ahead of the Class, was turned into a television drama  starring Julie Walters,   to mark the tenth anniversary of Mr Lawrence’s death. 

The Webster case has sparked a wider debate in legal circles over fees for expert witnesses. 

There is no limit to the fees that can be claimed. 

New proposals for reforms to civil court procedures, drawn up by Lord Justice Jackson, call for better controls of costs and the use of experts