Compensation For Privacy Breach Victim

A domestic abuse victim has received £75,000 from a police force after it revealed details of her treatment by a former boyfriend without her consent.

The unnamed woman had agreed that Greater Manchester Police (GMP) could refer to her experience in a training session on the condition that she should remain anonymous.

However, she later learned that her identity and medical history had been disclosed to a wider audience.

GMP has apologised to the victim and said that steps had been taken to stop similar occurrences in the future.

Nick McAleenan, solicitor who represented the victim, described his client as a "successful, professional woman" who had "suffered psychiatric harm" after learning that her personal information had been disclosed.

He said:

"This is information out there in the public domain. She can't put the genie back in the bottle and it's something that she is going to have to live with for the rest of her life.

"People can be a bit blasé about data privacy breaches and think it doesn't really matter, but it can have serious consequences as this case shows."

A GMP spokeswoman said that this was an "exceptional case" and that "The force has taken action to protect the individual's information to prevent any issue in the future."

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HSK Solicitors

Litigation and Disputes