Petition demanding justice for Allitt victim now available to sign

A Justice for Kayley petition is now available for signing at Grantham Community Books, in Welby Street.

It demands a rethink by Social sSecurity chiefs who insist 25-year-old Grantham woman Kayley Asher is not eligible for any financial help because she’d already received compensation for her injuries.

Kayley, 25, was one of more than a dozen children targeted by nurse Beverley Allitt –the Angel of Death – while she was in Grantham Hospital as a 13-month-old baby in the early 1990s.

A court awarded her £11,500 damages, to be held in a trust fund until she was 18.

She was also later granted around £120-a-week in disability benefits to help her parents cope with her condition.

The Department of Work and Pensions has since cut off the Employment Support Allowance Kayley had been receiving and demanding the return of £23,500 of the allowance – paid because her disabilities prevent her from working – is handed back.

They claim as Kayley has savings of more than £16,000 – the compensation she received plus interest –  means she is not eligible for the allowance.

The demand has infuriated her adoptive mum, former Mayoress Sharon Asher who says her only way of paying it back is to plunder her daughter’s compensation fund.

Sharon said: “That money is to pay for Kayley’s care because she was attacked by Allitt. I’m fuming they are threatening to take it away. Kayley would be left with nothing and will even have to take out a loan to pay the full amount.”

A judge awarded Kayley compensation, to be paid out when she turned 18, after Allitt was convicted of causing her grievous bodily harm with intent. The killer nurse murdered four children, and attacked eight others.

In the time between the ruling and Kayley reaching adulthood, her compensation had swelled to £22,000 because of interest payments.