A former solider who became a gold medal-winning para athlete after a military accident is accused of lying about her disability to bring a £1.74million compensation bid against the Ministry of Defence.
Debbie O’Connell, 37, who served as a gunner in the Royal Horse Artillery, claims her arm was left virtually useless after she fell from an army horse in 2015.
But the MoD has claimed she is exaggerating her symptoms after secret video footage showed her leading a difficult horse, walking her dog and lifting and moving heavy items.
Ms O’Connell shattered her left collarbone in four places when she fell from the parade horse, leading to damage which she says left her with chronic pain in her left arm and shoulder.
She was training as a mounted gunner with the Royal Horse Artillery’s crack squadron, the King’s Troop, but ended up being discharged from the forces two years later.
However, she went on to forge a successful career in para athletics, winning gold medals for cycling at the Invictus Games in 2018, sprinting at European and world level, and becoming a leading CrossFit competitor.
She also began a £2.4million compensation claim against the MoD – later reduced to £1.74million – claiming that she was injured due to the actions of a horse which had a tendency to buck and throw riders.
But the MoD is fighting the claim and accusing Ms O’Connell of ‘fundamental dishonesty’ in exaggerating the impact of her injuries to boost her case, while ‘dishonestly’ pursuing a para athletics career in a category she ‘does not fall within.’
Debbie O’Connell (pictured), 37, who served as a gunner in the Royal Horse Artillery, claims her arm was left virtually useless after she fell from an army horse in 2015
Debbie O’Connell pictured competing in the Women’s 1500m IT7 during the Athletics at the 2018 Invictus Games in Sydney, Australia
Ms O’Connell also went on to become a leading CrossFit competitor after she was discharged from the army
MoD barrister Niazi Fetto KC told Judge Christopher Kennedy KC that undercover surveillance had resulted in footage showing Ms O’Connell is not as disabled as she claims.
While she had told experts she had very little use of her left arm, the footage showed her leading a difficult horse, walking a dog, and lifting and moving heavy items.
He said she had participated as a T46 category para athlete, which is for competitors with limb impairments ‘comparable to the activity limitations’ in running and jumping with an ‘athlete with a unilateral above elbow amputation.’
But he claimed she had been ‘fundamentally dishonest in relation to the claim’ because she ‘has relied upon her dishonest pursuit of a para-athletics career in the knowledge that her condition does not fall within the T46 category.’
However, giving evidence, Ms O’Connor, of Lincoln, denied being dishonest, insisting that her damages claim is genuine and that allegations of ‘cheating’ are ‘not credible’ because she fits squarely into the T46 classification.
She told the court she had simply ‘described my condition’ when asked and been given the classification, which she said is in line with other athletes she competes against.
Additionally, as a soldier she had been taught to ‘push through pain’ and, in pursuing her athletics career, is simply doing her best to make the most of her life, despite her injury.
The court heard Ms O’Connell was injured when taking part in a training exercise with two colleagues. The exercise was to see all three riders turn the same way, but the other two didn’t and Ms O’Connor’s horse, Electra Jazz, reacted by bucking and throwing her to the ground.
Ms O’Connell shattered her left collarbone in four places when she fell from the parade horse, leading to damage which she says left her with chronic pain in her left arm and shoulder
She was training as a mounted gunner with the Royal Horse Artillery’s crack squadron, the King’s Troop, but ended up being discharged from the forces two years later
She sustained a bad fracture to her left collarbone, which was fixed with a plate and screws, but claims she went on to develop disabling pain in her left shoulder and arm.
Giving evidence, she told the judge that para sports became a central part of her life after her accident and admitted that she perhaps ‘lived for it.’
She competed in the Invictus Games in 2018, winning two gold and two silver medals, before also competing in para athletics as a sprinter and also in CrossFit, which tests the fitness and endurance of athletes.
But defending the £1.74m damages claim against it, the MoD claims that Ms O’Connell is not as disabled as she has claimed, pointing to secretly shot surveillance footage.
‘In 2020 and in 2022, the defendant obtained video surveillance evidence which it disclosed in spring 2022,’ MOD barrister Mr Fetto told the judge.
‘The footage shows the claimant using her left shoulder and arm in ways which are grossly inconsistent with her accounts and presentation to the medical and care experts.’
He said incidents in the footage showed her walking a dog, which she had claimed she was unable to do, and carrying out various activities surrounding horses.
These included moving large objects into a horse box and even ‘trying to lead/pull a reluctant horse into a horsebox, apparently using both hands.’
Ms O’Connell pictured competing in the Road Cycling Time Trials event at the Invictus Games, in Sydney, Australia, in 2018
In contrast, she had told the BBC in an interview in 2018 that her arm ‘doesn’t work,’ and had ‘represented near-total restriction of movement in the left shoulder’ to an orthopaedic expert that year.
In November 2021, she told a care expert: ‘I don’t have the strength in my arms to hold the dog’s leash,’ the barrister continued, which was at odds with the surveillance footage.
That same year, she had described being unable to carry much more than a piece of paper in her left hand and that she was unable to even chop vegetables, he added.
However, he said the covert video showed ‘normal or near-normal use’ of her arm and shoulder and claimed that she had ‘knowingly misrepresented and/or exaggerated the nature and effects of the injuries for which she claims.’
‘The video surveillance footage evidence from 2000 and 2022 shows the claimant using her left arm and shoulder in such ways, which fundamentally contradicts the basis of her claim,’ said the barrister.
‘Further or in the alternative, an essential component of the claims for past and future lost earnings, and for loss of pension, is the claimant’s case that she has reasonably pursued a career as a professional para-athlete in the T46 – or equivalent – category, rather than taking any other steps in mitigation of her losses.
‘The T46 category is defined as follows: “Athletes have a unilateral upper limb impairment that affects the shoulder and/or elbow joint of one arm and which is comparable to the activity limitations in running and jumps roughly comparable to that found in an athlete with a unilateral above elbow amputation. Athletes who have impairments of both arms, affecting elbow and wrist and roughly comparable to the activity limitations experienced by an athlete with bilateral through wrist / below elbow amputations of both arms, or an athlete with one above elbow amputation and one below elbow amputation, will also be placed in this class.”
‘In light of the last of those points, the claimant has been fundamentally dishonest in relation to the claim, and/or at least in relation to the claims for loss of earnings and pension, because she has relied upon her dishonest pursuit of a para-athletics career in the knowledge that her condition does not fall within the T46 category.
‘The true condition of the claimant’s left arm and shoulder is not comparable to that found in an athlete with a unilateral above elbow amputation, as the video evidence demonstrates.’
The MoD is fighting the claim and accusing Ms O’Connell of ‘fundamental dishonesty’ in exaggerating the impact of her injuries to boost her case
But Ms O’Connor strenuously denied any dishonesty and said that, although notes for her para athletics classification stated she had nerve damage to her Brachial plexus – which she accepted she has not – those were not the words she had used herself.
‘They asked me to describe my condition,’ she told the judge from the witness box, adding that the documents were also incorrect in stating she has ‘no power due to no movement’ in her arm.
‘It’s their wording,’ she said. ‘I can’t remember what I said…I have some power to my left arm. What they have written isn’t wholly correct.’
Defending Ms O’Connell, her barrister Nigel Lewers KC said: ‘At the heart of the defendant’s case on fundamental dishonesty is the assertion that the claimant is dishonestly competing as a T46 athlete.
‘This is not credible. Far from cheating, the claimant is disadvantaged compared to others in the T46 cohort as she runs without movement in her left upper limb.
‘This is an unusual case. The claimant is a professional athlete and former soldier, she has been taught to push through pain.
‘If the defendant were correct in their assertion that the claimant is dishonest and has brought a dishonest claim, then in support of her dishonest claim she has undergone surgery under general anaesthetic, multiple invasive procedures, including two nerve blocks, caused herself to suffer right hamstring issues and funded extensive treatment.
‘The court is invited to find that this is an honest claimant who is resilient and determined to fulfil her potential, despite having lost both her career and way of life in the army.
‘The claimant deserves to be compensated.’
He added: ‘She recovered orthopaedically, but has been left with neuropathic pain, weakness, restriction of movement and hypersensitivity.
‘Her condition was originally diagnosed as chronic regional pain syndrome but, on the basis of her ongoing symptoms, it is now considered to be neuropathic pain by the pain experts.
‘It is not accepted that when all of the evidence is considered, there are inconsistencies between the video footage and the claimant’s account.
‘It is wrong to consider the surveillance in isolation. It is only a snapshot over nearly 10 years.’
As well as accusing Ms O’Connell of being ‘dishonest’ in relation to the lasting nature and extent of her injuries, the MoD is contesting her claims that it was at fault for her accident at all.
‘Jazz had no known tendency to buck, let alone violently, and did not buck violently on the date of the accident, or try to stamp on the claimant,’ Mr Fetto argued.
‘Jazz was of sound, even temperament, and the buck which caused the claimant to fall was small, was the only one of the session, and followed a loss of balance in the saddle.
‘It was reasonable to allocate Jazz to the claimant and no additional assessment, training or warning was required ahead of doing so.’
On her claims that she was given size 11 boots to wear when she should be a five or six, he said her footwear was ‘reasonably safe and suitable.’
The King’s Troop is a ceremonial unit of the Royal Horse Artillery, tasked with driving teams of six horses pulling First World War era cannons during high-profile public displays.
Troopers wear a distinctive blue and gold uniform dating back to the Napoleonic wars and are called on to fire the royal salutes marking grand-scale state occasions, such as the King’s birthday.
The trial continues.
