A woman who dishonestly sued a hospital trust for more than £3m claiming negligence has been sent to prison after a judge said she “deliberately lied”.
Kae Burnell-Chambers took legal action against Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust in 2019 after surgery on a spinal problem three years earlier.
She claimed it had left her needing a stick to walk, but an investigation by the trust discovered video footage of her walking unaided and participating in body painting conventions around the country, the High Court heard.
The 44-year-old admitted contempt of court in July and was jailed earlier for six months and ordered to pay £135,000 of the trust’s legal costs.
The court in London heard that Burnell-Chambers first suffered from cauda equina syndrome in 2014.
The condition causes the nerves in the lower back to become severely compressed and requires early treatment.
She went to an accident and emergency department in August 2016 and received surgery the following day.
In her legal claim, she said that negligence by the hospital meant she “can’t do anything”.
Sadie Crapper, barrister for the trust, had told the court that the hospital argued she made a good recovery and that Burnell-Chambers was “deliberately fabricating and or grossly exaggerating her symptoms” to win more compensation.
The trust began contempt proceedings in 2023, claiming Burnell-Chambers failed to disclose “fluctuations” in her symptoms and that she could attend body painting conventions across the UK.
Admitting contempt of court in July, Burnell-Chambers said: “I offer my apologies to the court and the claimant. I understand that what I did was wrong.”
Her barrister, Ben Bradley KC, told the court that she should not be jailed as she cared for her son with her partner, who is a convicted sex offender.
Social services had concluded that it was not “safe and appropriate” for her son to be in her partner’s sole care, he added.
However, passing sentence Mrs Justice Tipples said that plans had been made for the partner to leave their home and for their son to be cared for by a relative.
The judge said the offending was “at a serious level that crosses the custodial threshold”.
“You deliberately lied to all these medical experts, leading them to believe that you were unable to do very much at all and that you were a person with significant support and accommodation needs,” the judge said.
She said that while immediate custody “will cause disruption” and “have an adverse effect” on Burnell-Chambers’ son, this was “all outweighed by the very serious nature” of the contempt.
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