A pioneering compensation claim on behalf of a child who was severely damaged by her mother's heavy drinking during pregnancy is to go before the court of appeal. Permission has been given for the court to hear allegations that the mother ignored warnings from social workers and antenatal medical staff that her heavy alcohol consumption risked harming her unborn baby, the Guardian reports. The lawsuit is being filed by a local authority in north-west England, which cares for the child, who is now six years old, against the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. It maintains the mother's action constituted the crime of poisoning under section 23 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
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