A GRIEVING family have called for a change in compensation rules after failing to get a payout following the murder of a loved one.
Wayne Brown, 25, was stabbed by Steven Vice on Rodway Road, Patchway, on January 9, 2011. Vice was jailed for life last November, with a minimum term of 21 years.
Mr Brown's family applied to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). If successful, they had been hoping to pay for a headstone and give Mr Brown's four-year-old son Ashton a start in life.
However, the initial application and an appeal were both knocked back by CICA because Mr Brown had criminal convictions. He had three previous theft offences and at the time of his death was doing unpaid work as part of a community order.
Calling for the criteria for compensation to be reviewed, his mum Wendy Mitchell said: "Wayne did have a few minor convictions, but he never injured anybody or anything like that. If he went out looking for trouble and had got injured I can understand that.
"But he wasn't a trouble-maker, he was a homely boy. He didn't go out to pubs and clubs looking for fights, carry weapons or threaten people. He wasn't that sort of person at all.
"Wayne knew he had done wrong and on the day he died he had been doing his community service. They had reduced his hours because of his good behaviour and he was willing to pay his dues.
"My son was murdered, leaving a little boy. He's going to have a lifetime without his dad and I think it's wrong that a little boy who was only three at the time should be penalised like this."
The 52-year-old Asda worker, of Rodway Road, added: "I don't care about the money – the compensation is for a headstone for Wayne. I still have his ashes here."
Ashton lives with his mum Katie Miller in Pilning. Miss Mitchell has taken legal advice about whether she can appeal to a higher body.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (2008) sets out who can receive compensation after injury or death. In fatal cases, "dependents" such as parents, long-term partners and children can receive up to £11,000 if one person claims, or £5,500 each if more than one successfully claims.
However, there are many criteria. The scheme states: "A claims officer may withhold or reduce an award where he or she considers the applicant's character, as shown by his or her criminal convictions or by evidence available to the claims officer, makes it inappropriate a full award or any award at all be made."
It states "a claims officer must withhold or reduce an award to reflect unspent criminal convictions unless he or she considers there are exceptional reasons not to do so".
Chef Vice, of The Close, Patchway, stabbed Mr Brown on Rodway Road as Mr Brown walked Vice's ex-girlfriend Sadie Thompson home. He approached the pair, threatened the unarmed Mr Brown and stabbed him in the heart with a fish knife.
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