News

A Gurkha living in Folkestone has won £121,750 in High Court damages when his career was prematurely ended after he was accidentally shot in the leg during an overseas exercise.

Padam Sundar Limbu, 39, enlisted in May 1989 and had a good career for 13 years with assessments consistently above the standard required for a rifleman.

He rarely returned to Nepal to help with the subsistence hill farming carried out by the family he supported and rarely saw his wife, two sons aged 18 and 13, and eight younger siblings.

His service would normally have lasted until at least 2004, with a possible extension to 2008, said Deputy Judge Philip Mott QC in London.

"Given the current obligations of the British Army, such extensions were very likely."

After working in other fields until aged 55, such as in global security, Mr Limbu would have returned to Nepal. But, since the September 2002 accident in Canada, when he was injured in the right calf by a high velocity bullet, he had been left with a "real and obvious disability".

He said that the difficulty with standing, going up and down stairs and running was a slowly resolving problem, but Mr Limbu's condition was affected by his current circumstances in Folkestone.

"There is also no doubt that the difficulties he has experienced in his domestic arrangements, living in Kent without his family, sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor of a friend's living room, failing to get any assistance from Job Centres or the local council, have all combined to depress his spirits and make it more difficult to cope with the pain."

The Ministry of Defence had admitted liability but disputed the major issue of damages in relation to loss of earnings from discharge in August 2007 to age 55. The judge rejected the MoD's suggestion that Mr Limbu would probably have brought his family to the UK and worked here, rather than taking on security work abroad.

Mr Limbu, who was not in court, will also receive a sum of interest on top of the damages award.