Kate Maynard

Kate specialises in defending the rights of victims of state abuses of power.

As an inquest law specialist, her cases are often in relation to deaths that occurred after encountering the police or in relation to other state bodies such as the prison and immigration detention systems. Kate been involved in some of the most significant and high-profile of these inquests of the last fifteen years.

As well the families of Dalian Atkinson and Darren Cumberbatch – both of whom died after the significant use of police force – her other ongoing notable inquest cases include:

• The family of Prince Kwabena Fosu, an immigration detainee who died naked in solitary confinement after having his bedding removed for six days, and not eating, drinking or sleeping during that period. A jury has recently concluded that Prince died suddenly while suffering from psychotic illness following hypothermia, dehydration and malnourishment. The jury found gross failings across all agencies and that neglect contributed to Prince’s death.
• The family of a Serco prison custody officer who was killed by a prisoner in the court cells. The Health and Safety Executive is currently considering criminal charges against Serco.
• The family of Jack Merritt who was killed in the Fishmongers Hall terrorist attack in November 2019.

Kate has obtained damages for a series of prisoners seriously assaulted and/or raped in custody and has an enviable track record at achieving beneficial settlements for her clients without in the need to resort to litigation.

In Radislav Krstic v Ministry of Justice – a rare case that did go to trial – Kate won damages from the Ministry of Justice for negligently failing to prevent her client from being seriously attacked and left for dead by other prisoners in a high security prison.

In another recently settled case, she obtained significant damages for a client who was sexually assaulted by prisoners in prison causing life changing injuries.

Prisoners deemed to be difficult are often those more likely to be subjected to serious abuses of power in prison. She recently settled a compensation claim for a paraplegic prisoner based on a disability discrimination claim (failure to provide humane conditions and adequate facilities)., and breach of privacy.

And in another case, Paul Smith v Ministry of Justice, the MOJ did not want to give her client a penny. He had been assaulted by prison officers in the segregation unit of HMP Parkhurst whilst on a dirty protest. However, the case was won at trial, the successful judgment handed down on 2 September 2009 which criticised the prison officers, prison management (for their failure to investigate) and their lawyers (for serving composite witness statements).

Kate is also a leader in the field in universal jurisdiction cases covering various territories and crimes.

Since 2005, Kate has been instructed on behalf of victims of torture and war crimes from more than ten conflict zones to obtain justice under the legal principle of universal jurisdiction. She has prepared and conducted cases that have been presented to the courts in the UK, New Zealand, Netherlands and Spain.

Much of her work on these cases is necessarily done in secret but those that have been in the public domain include obtaining an arrest warrant for an Israeli war crimes suspect and representing a torture victim in the second such prosecution ever brought in the UK.