A PRISON officer who suffered a serious wrist injury while escorting a drunk female prisoner to a cell at Burnley Police Station has been told she is not entitled to compensation.

Katie Cruz, then 22, was injured while working as a civilian detention officer, employed by G4S, on behalf of Lancashire police at the Parker Lane police headquarters in July 2010.

MORE TOP STORIES:

Her claim for compensation failed during a two-day trial before Judge Philip Butler at Preston County Court but she appealed the decision to the High Court in London.

But while law lords confirmed they had "profound sympathy" with Ms Cruz’s plight, and acknowledged she was "doing an unpleasant job dealing with a drunk and obstreperous individual in the course of which she sustained a nasty injury", no fault could be laid at the door of Lancashire Chief Constable Steve Finnigan.

The court heard Ms Cruz was had been escorting a female detainee to a police station cell at the with a colleague when the incident occurred.

Once they arrived there the cell door, usually fully open, was half-closed, causing the colleague to take her hands off the prisoner to make room for them to pass through.

But while this was ongoing the detainee fell to the ground, taking Ms Cruz by surprise. She tried to hold up the woman but her weight pulled them both to the floor. Her arm was trapped between the body and the floor as a result.

Michael Mulholland, for Ms Cruz, said that because the cell door was not fully open and "maintained in an efficient state", Lancashire police were in breach of their duty of care to his client.

But Jonathan Grace, for the chief constable, said that there "was no foreseeable real risk of relevant injury", arguing that while the half-open door may have been an inconvenience, it was a measure done for operational efficiency not rather than for health-and-safety reasons.

Dismissing the appeal, Lord Justice Tomlinson said: “The reality is that this was an the sort of unfortunate accident which could have arisen in almost any circumstances in a police station. That does not however detract from my profound sympathy for the claimant.”