Sisters who suffered hammer attack at Cumberland hotel to sue
Three women who were the victims of a brutal hammer attack are to sue the London hotel where it happened.
The three sisters from the United Arab Emirates were on a shopping trip to London and were staying at the four-star Cumberland hotel when they were attacked by drug addict and "hotel creeper" Philip Spence on 6 April 2014.
Spence has since been sentenced to life imprisonment and one of the sisters Ohoud al-Najjar, 38, was left "profoundly disabled" after he hit her six times when she disturbed him at 130am as he rifled through their possessions.
Now the sisters, along with six others who were on the trip, have made a high court claim for injury, loss and damage, according to the Guardian.
Riffat Yaqub, a solicitor at London law firm Hodge Jones & Allen, said that as well as Najjar's brain damage and disability, her sisters Khaloud and Fatima now suffer epilepsy, and emotional and behavioural disturbances.
The lawyer also cited 57 instances of alleged theft from guest rooms at the hotel between March 2013 and March 2014.
The hotel said it was contesting the claim and "cannot accept liability given the facts surrounding the incident, which include these guests having left their hotel bedroom door ajar, visible from the corridor, whilst the family was asleep inside".
A spokesperson said: "Philip Spence, convicted in 2014, bears sole responsibility for the brutal injuries he inflicted on a family staying with us three years ago. The incident shocked the hospitality industry as a whole, not least as it was unprecedented, unforeseeable and unprovoked. The al-Najjar sisters have since remained in our thoughts and we continue to wish them progress in their recovery.
The Cumberland is owned by Glh, which also owns, leases or manages 15 hotels in the UK. The Cumberland is to be reopened as the UK's first Hard Rock hotel by summer 2018.
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