Injured boy awarded £8.1m payout

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A court has awarded what is thought to be a record compensation payment of £8.1m to a boy who was accidentally run over by his father on a family day out.

The High Court heard nine-year-old Callum Cross will need life-long care after suffering catastrophic spinal and brain injuries in March 2002.

He was hurt when his father, Patrick, drove over him at Mead Open Farm, near Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire.

Mr Cross's insurers admitted liability. The payout will pay for Callum's care.

'Provides for future'

The accident happened when Mr Cross failed to see Callum as he reversed in a car park.

He now lives in Milton Keynes with his mother, Julie Eriksson, who has remarried, twin brother Ben, and younger twins, Jack and Kieron, seven.

His counsel, Frank Burton QC, told Mrs Justice Swift at the court in London that Mr Cross's insurers, who admitted liability at an early stage, had made an interim payment of £1.7m to enable the family to buy a suitable home.

Once the evidence of Callum's needs was clear, a settlement was reached of a £2.5m lump sum plus annual payments of £220,000.

Money can never replace what he has lost but he is part of a loving family Paul Paxton, of Stewarts Law

Approving the pay-out as in Callum's best interests, the judge said: "It is quite clear that, although he is in many ways a delightful boy, he can be difficult on occasions.

"I have no doubt that considerable patience, forbearance and hard work is required to deal with that.

"I wish him, and the family as a whole, well for the future.

"While this order cannot possibly put him back to the circumstances in which he otherwise would have been, I hope it will play its part in enabling him to live to his full potential."

Callum's solicitor, Paul Paxton, of Stewarts Law, said the total award of £8.1m was thought to be the highest approved award for a spinal cord injury.

He added: "Money can never replace what he has lost but he is part of a loving family."