Charity worker ‘manhandled’ on dancefloor sues for £300,000

AN EMPLOYEE at Cancer Research UK is suing the charity for up to £300,000 in compensation after she was dropped on the dance floor by a Cambridge University scientist during a Christmas party.

Sandra Shelbourne, 61, claims that back injuries she sustained when being “manhandled” by Robert Bielik have left her unable to return to work after more than six years.

The accident happened at a Christmas party thrown by the charity at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in 2012. Lawyers for Mrs Shelbourne, then an animal technician for the charity, argue Cancer Research was responsible for the behaviour of Mr Bielik, a visiting scientist, on the night of the incident. The High Court heard Mr Bielik was “inebriated” after drinking vodka, red wine and beer and had picked up three other women before he made contact with Mrs Shelbourne.

Robert Weir QC, her barrister, said the “drunken” scientist’s antics had been “an accident waiting to happen” and should have been stopped by supervising Cancer Research staff.

But Matthew White, for the charity, insisted that an expectation that Christmas parties should be policed in such an organised fashion would be viewed by “the ordinary man” as “some version of health and safety gone mad”.

The case reached the High Court on appeal after Mrs Shelbourne failed to convince Judge Gordon Catford at Southend County Court in May last year that Cancer Research UK should pay her massive damages.

Judge Catford said that Mr Bielik “would clearly be liable to Mrs Shelbourne in damages for trespass to the person and in negligence”, but added that he was not being sued by her.

He ruled that Mrs Shelbourne had no grounds to claim against Cancer Research UK on the basis of “vicarious liability” for his antics. But at the High Court, Mr Weir argued that Judge Catford was wrong to refuse her claim.

He told Mr Justice Lane: “This is inappropriate behaviour, giving rise to the risk of alcohol-fuelled injury.”

At the end of a daylong hearing, Mr Justice Lane reserved his judgment which will be given at a later date.