Worrall v British Railways Board [1999] EWCA Civ 1312  Court of Appeal

The Claimant alleged that an injury which he has suffered as a result of his employer's negligence had changed his personality. As a result, he had on two occasions committed sexual assaults on prostitutes, for which offences he had been sentenced to imprisonment for six years. He claimed loss of earnings while in prison and thereafter. The Court of Appeal struck out this claim. 

Mummery LJ:

"It would be inconsistent with his criminal conviction to attribute to the negligent defendant in this action any legal responsibility for the financial consequences of crimes which he has been found guilty of having deliberately committed"

Back to lecture outline on ex turpi causa in Tort law