The circumstances of this case were that the claimant had received severe head injuries as a result of a serious accident. He had physically recovered from his injuries but had been left with psychological injuries which the court was having difficulty in quantifying. The claimant was married and as a result of this tragic accident had separated from his wife because he flew into fits of rage for no apparent reason.

The solicitor acting for him was appointed as his “next friend” by the court – a term used to appoint someone to look after all of the claimant’s affairs. The next friend had arranged for the claimant to become an inmate of a hospital in order that his behaviour could be monitored Nothing untoward took place during the monitored period, which took the matter no further forward.

We were approached to apply our expertise in ascertaining the state of the individual’s behaviour. With the court’s authority we installed covert cameras in certain areas of the claimants living quarters. Our integrity in this matter was of paramount importance as the victim had, on no account, to be made aware that his behaviour was being monitored.

The operation proved a success in that we were able to provide the court with impartial film footage of how the claimant acted when he thought that he was unobserved.

This was the first time that such an approach had been used to provide unbiased evidence to put before the court. It also proved a useful tool in quantifying the amount of damages to be awarded in this particular case.