A former soldier turned gold medal-winning para athlete could go to jail after being ‘dishonest’ about her disability in a £1.74million damages claim against the Ministry of Defence.
Former soldier Debbie O’Connell was in the Royal Horse Artillery’s ceremonial unit, the King’s Troop, when she fell off her mount in 2015 and broke her collarbone.
Ms O’Connell claimed the fall rendered her left arm almost useless and, having left the army, embarked on a successful para athletics career, winning gold medals for cycling at the 2018 Invictus Games and sprinting at world level competitions.
In September 2018, she launched a £2.4million compensation claim against the MoD – later scaled down to £1.74million – but despite a judge’s finding she was injured, had her case thrown out due to ‘fundamental dishonesty.’
At the High Court last year, Judge Christopher Kennedy KC said Ms O’Connell’s evidence about ongoing pain ‘must be dishonest’ due to video footage showing her doing various activities, such as leading a horse and chopping vegetables.
The Judge added that Ms O’Connell’s ‘attempts to conceal the truth’ about the impact of her injury had been ‘sophisticated’. She was slapped with the £200,000-plus-costs bill for the case.
But her case was back in court again on Friday after the MoD launched an application to have Ms O’Connell committed to prison for contempt of court, accusing her of telling ‘lies’ about the extent of her disability and ‘maligning the reputation of veterans’.
Lawyers for Ms O’Connell argued the contempt bid should be blocked, telling the court she had already ‘suffered enough’ and that it was ‘not in the public interest’ for proceedings to be brought.
Debbie O’Connell (pictured) is a former soldier who could go to jail after being ‘dishonest’ about her disability in a £1.74million damages claim against the Ministry of Defence
Ms O’Connell competing in the Women’s 1500m during the 2018 Invictus Games at Sydney, Australia
Ms O’Connell was in the Royal Horse Artillery’s ceremonial unit, the King’s Troop, when she fell off her mount in 2015 and broke her collarbone
Ms O’Connell’s barrister, Ian Denham, argued that she had lost her case, been handed the MoD’s massive legal costs bill for it and, having been found ‘fundamentally dishonest’ in a public judgment, and would suffer further public repercussions.
But giving permission for the contempt case to go ahead, Mr Justice Coppel disagreed. He said it was in the ‘public interest’ that committal applications be pursued when claims are ‘prosecuted on a false basis, as has been found in this case.’
‘It seems to me that the public interest plainly permits, and requires, that this committal application be made,’ he said, giving permission for a five-day contempt hearing to take place.
‘There are strong findings of fundamental dishonesty made against the defendant in the judgment,’ he explained.
‘I am going to give permission, in so far as it’s necessary, for the claimant to pursue each of the allegations.’
During the trial of the case, the court heard Ms O’Connell shattered her left collarbone in four places when she fell in 2015, leading to damage she claimed left her with chronic pain in her left arm and shoulder.
She had been training as a mounted gunner with the Royal Horse Artillery’s King’s Troop, but ended up being discharged from the forces two years later.
The King’s Troop is a ceremonial unit of the Royal Horse Artillery, tasked with driving teams of six horses pulling First World War era cannons during high-profile public displays.
Troopers wear a distinctive blue and gold uniform dating back to the Napoleonic wars and are called on to fire the royal salutes marking grand-scale state occasions, such as the Queen’s birthday and the platinum jubilee.
In her claim, Ms O’Connell claimed her fall was caused by riding boots two sizes too large and because the horse allotted to her had a tendency to buck.
Ms O’Connell pictured outside the High Court this morning after the Judge gave permission for her contempt of court case to be brought forward by the Ministry of Defence
A High Court hearing last year heard how Ms O’Connell’s evidence ‘must be dishonest’ due to video footage showing her doing various activities, including leading a horse and chopping vegetables
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But disputing the claim, the MoD accused her of exaggerating the impact of her injuries while ‘dishonestly’ pursuing a para athletics career in the T46 category – for competitors with limb impairments comparable with an ‘athlete with a unilateral above-elbow amputation’.
MoD barrister Niazi Fetto KC said she had ‘relied upon her dishonest pursuit of a para-athletics career in the knowledge that her condition does not fall within the T46 category.’
He pointed to evidence in covertly recorded video footage, which showed her using her injured arm while completing various tasks, including leading a horse and chopping vegetables.
Mr Fetto also said that Ms O’Connell ‘has not apologised or shown remorse’ and had told the MoD that she ‘intends to exercise her right to silence’ during the contempt proceedings.
Giving evidence, Ms O’Connell, of Lincoln, denied being dishonest, insisting that her damages claim was genuine and that allegations of ‘cheating’ are ‘not credible’ because she fits squarely into the T46 classification.
She told the court she had simply ‘described my condition’ when asked and been given the classification.
As a soldier, she said she had been taught to ‘push through pain’ and, in pursuing her athletics career, is simply doing her best to make the most of her life in spite of her injury.
She competed in the Invictus Games in 2018, winning two gold and two silver medals, before also competing in para-athletics as a sprinter and also in CrossFit, which tests the fitness and endurance of athletes.
Ms O’Connell pictured racing during the Road Cycling Time Trials at the Invictus Games in 2018
In his judgment on the claim last year, Judge Kennedy said that by 2022, when the surveillance footage was shot, Ms O’Connell was still reporting that she ‘needed assistance with cutting food and preparing hot drinks along with aspects of bathing and getting dressed’.
The Judge added: ‘She reported that her pain remained the same as before and it restricted her daily activities.
‘[But] the claimant’s presentation on the video is of someone with normal or near normal function in their left upper limb and shoulder.’
‘That is what I find the claimant had at that time. I do not accept her accounts of continuing pain and hypersensitivity.
‘I find her evidence in relation to her symptoms must be dishonest.’
Although the accident had for some time had ‘serious disabling consequences’, there was a ‘stark’ difference between what she had told experts in the case and what she was seen doing by the time of the surveillance footage in 2022.
‘This is a claim which I have found to be fundamentally dishonest. The claimant has persisted with her dishonesty over a long period.
‘She has sought to engage others and her attempts to conceal the truth have been sophisticated.’
A hearing to decide if Ms O’Connell was in contempt of court and if she should be jailed will now take place at a later date.
The maximum sentence for contempt of court is two years behind bars.
