British Airways sued over pilot’s sex abuse claim in several Kenyan schools and orphanages.

The tail of a British Airways plane is covered in green de-icing fluid as it taxies along the runway at Heathrow airport in west London. BA is being sued over claims that one of its pilots sexually abused a number of children, some as young as eight, in several Kenyan schools and orphanages. PHOTO | AFP 

In Summary

• “Our team will be travelling overseas over the coming weeks to meet with other potential victims in Nairobi and Uganda that have come forward more recently”.
• Lawyers say the airline bears responsibility because First Officer Simon Wood carried out the alleged attacks while on stopovers.
• Mr Wood was found dead after being struck by a train in Hertfordshire, the UK.

By PAUL REDFERN
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Correspondent, London
British Airways (BA) is being sued over claims that one of its pilots sexually abused a number of children, some as young as eight, in several Kenyan schools and orphanages.

BA First Officer Simon Wood was actively involved in BA’s charitable activities in Kenya.

It is alleged that he molested youngsters in stopovers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania whilst flying for BA and, as a result, the airline is being held responsible for his acts.
Ms Nicola Marshall, a lawyer with the firm Leigh Day representing the alleged victims, said: “Despite initial efforts by British Airways to meet to discuss reaching a settlement for our clients, we have not been able to reach a satisfactory agreement. We, therefore, have no option but to commence legal proceedings against the airline in the UK courts.

“We allege that Wood was able to abuse the victims, by reason of his employment with the airline, in particular through his involvement with the airline’s community relations work.

Leigh Day said it is acting on behalf of 16 female clients currently aged between eight and 20 years of age who were allegedly abused in African schools and orphanages over a number of years by Mr Wood: “The schools and orphanages that our clients attended were all in receipt of charitable donations from the airline, and Wood played a key role in administering those donations, on behalf of British Airways.

POTENTIAL VICTIMS

“Our team will be travelling overseas over the coming weeks to meet with other potential victims in Nairobi and Uganda that have come forward more recently”.
Lawyers say the airline bears responsibility because First Officer Simon Wood carried out the alleged attacks while on stopovers.

Mr Wood was found dead after being struck by a train in Hertfordshire, the UK.

He was due to appear at a court on August 30, 2013, charged with one count of indecent assault of a girl under 16, two counts of taking indecent photographs of a child and one count of possessing indecent images of a child.

An inquest in the UK last Wednesday ruled had killed himself on August 18, last year, after he was accused of sexual abuse,

“He felt that his only way out was to take his own life,” Graham Danbury, the deputy coroner for Hertfordshire, said.

The mother of one alleged victim told the UK’s Daily Mail in 2013 that her daughter was abused at a five-star hotel in Nairobi and that the girl, now 14, had since threatened to commit suicide.
“I trusted him completely because he seemed so good and so kind. I trusted him with everything, even with my daughter,” she said.

A British Airways spokesman said: “We were shocked and horrified to hear the allegations against Mr Simon Wood.

“Our sympathies are with the victims and it is disappointing that the conduct of one person has caused so much distress to the many thousands of decent people who engage in charitable works on a regular basis”.