Sri Lankan migrant Home Office £7 million injury claim High Court, Digi Mart USA News: A Sri Lankan migrant who sued the Home Office for £7 million over injuries suffered in a detention centre was filmed go-karting and working out at the gym, a court has heard.
Vengadeswara Raw Gopalakrishnan “deliberately fabricated” claims that he suffered from depression, psychosis and PTSD which left him unable to work or leave the house, a High Court judge said on Friday. The judge said the waste of public resources and court time in dealing with the claim over 12 years was “scandalous”, and ordered Mr Gopalakrishnan to pay all of the Home Office’s costs of defending the legal action.
Gopalakrishnan came to the UK in 2010 but overstayed his student visa. He unsuccessfully claimed asylum in 2013 and was granted indefinite leave to remain in 2023.
He later sued for more than £7 million over injuries allegedly suffered while detained from September 2013 to February 2014. He claimed to have suffered from a severe depressive illness with psychotic symptoms until 2023 and continued to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Home Office provided evidence earlier this year showing that Mr Gopalakrishnan “does not now suffer from a serious mental health condition, and likely never did”. This included footage of Mr Gopalakrishnan driving a car and exercising at a gym for an hour, Mr Justice Mansfield said.
Mr Gopalakrishnan also claimed he did not have the mental capacity to conduct the claim, and was helped by a woman named Reena Mathew, who was said to have voluntarily cared for him. But evidence also showed that Mr Gopalakrishnan and Ms Mathew had been in a relationship for more than 10 years and had three children together, with Mr Justice Mansfield finding that the two “acted together” in the false damages claim.
The judge said: “The claimant has deliberately fabricated or grossly exaggerated his symptoms, in collaboration with Ms Mathew, for the purposes of pursuing a claim for damages put at over £7 million. The sums claimed were based on a fabrication and were without basis.” He continued: “The story of the complete destruction of the claimant’s life as an independent adult would be tragic, and the story of Ms Mathew’s devoted care for him would be inspiring, if any of it were true.”
Ms Mathew acted as his “litigation friend” in the claim, someone who makes decisions about court cases on behalf of those who do not have the mental capacity to manage the case themselves. In April, she told the court that Mr Gopalakrishnan’s condition had only improved “ever so slightly” and that he “requires a lot of day-to-day support”.
She also said that he was “unable to prepare his own meals, leave the house alone, attend appointments, manage his finances or arrange any key aspects of his life such as housing, medical care and benefits”.
However, the judge said that between May and June this year, the Home Office asked “inquiry agents” to observe and film Mr Gopalakrishnan in public. They spotted him taking his children to school and visiting restaurants, and found online that he had also taken part in a go-karting competition.
Home Office records also showed he worked as a delivery driver.
Mr Justice Mansfield said that after the department shared the recordings, Mr Gopalakrishnan could offer “no explanation for the inconsistencies”. The judge said Mr Gopalakrishnan “knowingly participated” in giving false accounts and “feigned behaviour” to “obtain money from the Home Office”, and that he and Ms Mathew “deliberately exaggerated” his symptoms.
He said: “It is clear to me that the claimant’s exaggeration of his symptoms has been deliberate, calculated and for the purposes of gain from these proceedings. By the standards of ordinary decent people, the claimant’s conduct in bringing and pursuing a claim for damages based on fabricated or exaggerated symptoms was dishonest.”
