Royal Navy sailor sues Ministry of Defence for £500,000 over claims her career was ended by spinal injury after captain's dinner table fell on her in rough seas

A former sailor who claims her career was ended when the captain's dinner table fell on her in rough seas is suing the Ministry of Defence for £500,000.

Joleen Williams, 38, sustained a spinal injury when her frigate HMS St Albans made an unplanned 180-degree turn while sailing off the south coast in October 2014.

She says she was pinned to a cabinet by her commanding officer's table damaging her spine resulting in her medical discharge from the Royal Navy in December 2017.

The former leading medical assistant (LMA) is suing the MoD at Central London County Court, for £500,000 in compensation for the loss of her ten-year career.

The MoD is fighting the claim, saying the captain's table was fixed down and there was a warning sounded known as a 'pipe' to announce the change of direction. 

Judge Richard Roberts was told that Miss Williams, from the Poole area, was sailing on board HMS St Albans off the Isle of Portland when she was injured.

In her evidence, she told the court she had been ordered to have dinner at the table of the ship's commanding officer, Commander Catherine Jordan, who is now a commodore.

'At about 20.00 hours, after we had finished the last course of the dinner, but the table had still to be cleared, the ship rolled unexpectedly to starboard,' Miss Williams said.

'No warning pipe had been given in advance. I was thrown backwards in my chair with my back against the filing cabinet.

'I remember the commanding officer calling up to the bridge and telling them: 'What the hell are you doing up there? You just took out our LMA'.

'It took a few minutes for the other people in the cabin to get the table off me.'

For the MoD, barrister Richard Seabrook denied liability for the injuries, claiming that the warning pipe - stating 'Do you hear there, the ship is about to turn across the sea and may/will roll'- was sounded.

Miss Williams was at fault herself for not doing enough to stabilise herself after the disputed warning was sounded, he claimed.

'The defendant's case is that a pipe was made, so warning the entire ship's company that the turn was going to be made and to prepare for that,' he told the judge.

'The table had been secured and secured adequately by a cable that ran from its underside to a fixing point on the deck beneath the table.

'In any event, as a matter of fact it didn't fall on to the claimant. The warning pipe was made.'

In her written evidence to the court, Commodore Jordan said: 'I recall a warning pipe was sounded.

'Immediately the pipe was heard, myself and the other crew members stabilized themselves and also ensured that the dinner items on the table such as the jugs and glasses did not slide off the table as the ship rolled.'

The trial continues.