Brain damaged man gets £375,000

A psychiatric patient brain damaged in a car crash while undergoing treatment has been awarded £375,000 damages.

Stephen Grainger was admitted to Suttons Manor Clinic in Romford, Essex, in November 1996, suffering from severe depression.

Eleven days later he received "life threatening and permanently damaging" injuries when hit by a car nearby.

The High Court heard that the car driver thought it was a suicide bid but staff said he flagged down the car.

QC Margaret Bowron told Mr Justice Jack the car driver had been deeply traumatised.

"Sadly, we'll never be able to find out what happened from the only person who really knows," she said.

The claim against Speciality Care - which runs the clinic and denied liability - centred on whether his medication and monitoring were sufficient.

The two parties reached a settlement and the Defence QC Benjamin Browne, paid tribute to the "remarkable devotion" shown by Mr Grainger's wife, Dawn, to her 45-year-old husband since the tragedy.

"I don't know what marriage vow, if any, Mrs Grainger took, but if she took the old-fashioned one, she has certainly stuck by it."

Mr Grainger currently lives in a rehabilitation unit in Station Road, Ardley, Colchester.