A second chance for British courts to grant justice

Appeal launched by Emirati sisters who fell victim to a brutal attack in a London hotel

Ohoud Al Najjer following the incident

More than five years on from the brutal hammer attack in a London hotel that devastated an Abu Dhabi family and shook confidence in the British capital as a safe destination, the ordeal of the Al Najjar sisters and their loved ones continues. In the early hours of April 6, 2014, Fatima, Khulood and Ohoud were attacked in their adjoining rooms at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch by a thief armed with a claw hammer. All three suffered very serious injuries. Ohoud, who sustained catastrophic brain damage, was left with 5% brain capacity and will need care for the rest of her life.

Last month the family lost a High Court claim for compensation against the owners of the hotel. Despite evidence of a series of failures to protect guests in the years preceding the attack, the judge ruled that while it had been "reasonably foreseeable" the likelihood of it occurring was "extremely low" and so the hotel bore no liability. The perversity of the decision further traumatised the family. Having been forced to relive the horrors of that terrifying night, Khaloud and Fatima were "devastated that it has all been for nothing".

Perhaps not. The case returns to the courts this week on appeal, renewing hope that the family will finally achieve justice and giving the British legal system a chance to redeem itself. The grounds of the appeal that the family’s legal team will bring have not yet been disclosed. It seems likely, however, that they will include reference to the extraordinary fact that at one stage the hotel’s own security team advised that key card readers be installed to prevent intruders accessing guest floors via the lobby lifts.

Had the advice been heeded in all probability the devastating events of April 2014 would never have happened. Although since rebranded, the hotel is still owned by the GLH group. The fact that its lifts are now protected by key-card security is a damning admission that in April 2014 the protection of guests was inadequate. In his judgment last month dismissing the family's claim Mr Justice Dingemans praised "the bravery and courage of all of the claimants at the time of, and after, the attack". Kind words are not enough. It is time to reward that courage, and the family's determination, with a just verdict in the court of appeal.