Student sues for £15m after accident at uni’s skydive club caused ‘catastrophic’ injuries

A woman is suing for £15 million after an accident when she was a student at a university’s skydive club left her with “catastrophic” injuries.

When Miriam Barker was a 21-year-old history and philosophy student at the University of Southampton, she joined the uni’s Skydiving Society. Miriam Barker was injured during a dive at Dunkeswell Airfield in Devon. According to her lawyer, “she fell heavily onto her knees and face, her neck was compressed as her legs went up behind her. She remained conscious and felt an excruciating pain in her neck and back. She was unable to move her arms or legs.” The impact caused a “catastrophic spinal chord injury”. Eight years on, she is reliant on a wheelchair.

Miriam Barker is suing both a university doctor and the skydiving company for £15 million compensation for the long-term consequences of this accident. She claims Dr Aneela Hafiz should not have declared her “fit to do a solo jump”, due to her anxiety and depression. When Miriam Barker joined the University of Southampton’s skydiving club in early 2018, she was about to start cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and was taking medication. Miriam Barker’s lawyers allege these mental health conditions affected her “ability to concentrate and to perform effective and timely decision making in a stressful situation”, so Dr Aneela Hafiz should have declared skydiving as an “unacceptable risk”.

The Hartley Library at the University of Southampton
(Credit: Iamtheabelman)

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Dr Aneela Hafiz denies being liable for the accident. In her written defence, she said Barker appeared “stable” and “markedly improved”. Dr Hafiz’s lawyers argue she assessed the student when she joined the skydive club two months before the accident, and Barker did not inform her of any changes to her mental health.

Miriam Barker is suing the skydiving company Skydive Buzz as she claims the training exercises did not prepare her adequately, and the instructors did not “talk her down” properly on the radio during the dive. Skydive Buzz denies being liable for this student’s accident, and claims she landed in a way “contrary to tuition”. It says the training exercises were “a perfectly reasonable means of teaching students”.

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Featured image of the University of Southampton by FlickScully. Featured image of skydiving does not depict the university’s club.