Three sisters from the United Arab Emirates who were the victims of a brutal hammer attack while on a shopping trip to London are suing the hotel where it happened.

Drug addict and “hotel creeper” Philip Spence was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempted murder after he bludgeoned the women in their room during a burglary at the four-star Cumberland hotel on 6 April 2014.



They were asleep but disturbed him at 1.30am as he rifled through their possessions. He hit one of the sisters, Ohoud al-Najjar, 38, so hard six times in the head and face that he left her profoundly disabled. Spence was described during his criminal trial as “a crackhead”.

In a high court claim for injury, loss and damage on behalf of the three sisters and six other family members who were also on the trip, lawyers alleged: “The hotel was in breach of its duty of care to guests and failed to operate a security system that would protect against foreseeable risks.”

Announcing the claim, Riffat Yaqub, a solicitor at London law firm Hodge Jones & Allen, said that as well as Najjar’s brain damage and disability, her sisters Khaloud and Fatima now suffer epilepsy, and emotional and behavioural disturbances as a result of the attacks.

She also cited 57 instances of alleged theft from the guest rooms at the central London hotel between March 2013 and March 2014, including some while guests were in their rooms.

Philip Spence was sentenced to life imprisonment for carrying out the attack. Photograph: Metropolitan Police/PA

“This is a truly shocking case of a family who were holidaying in London and rightly expected they would be safe in their hotel beds,” Yaqub said. “The attacks have destroyed their lives and the damage caused is irreversible. As well as physical damage to the sisters, all nine members of the family have suffered psychiatric trauma as a result of the horrific attacks.”

The hotel said it was contesting the claim and “cannot accept liability given the facts surrounding the incident, which include these guests having left their hotel bedroom door ajar, visible from the corridor, whilst the family was asleep inside”.

A spokesperson said: “Philip Spence, convicted in 2014, bears sole responsibility for the brutal injuries he inflicted on a family staying with us three years ago. The incident shocked the hospitality industry as a whole, not least as it was unprecedented, unforeseeable and unprovoked. The al-Najjar sisters have since remained in our thoughts and we continue to wish them progress in their recovery.

“Hotels are public places – whether in the heart of bustling capital cities or in rural havens. In recognition of this fact, we purposefully have self-locking mechanisms on every bedroom door. The al-Najjar family suffered an unimaginable and unprecedented ordeal at the hands of a stranger who was swiftly apprehended, tried and convicted with our full support. Philip Spence’s actions affected all those who sought to help the al-Najjar family that night.”