A YOUNG man left seriously brain damaged after a childhood fall from a railway bridge has been awarded £1.725 million damages.

Daniel Grier was aged nine when he fell 40 feet from a railway bridge near Runcorn.

He was unconscious for several weeks after the accident and has been left physically and mentally disabled and needs one-to-one care.

Daniel's barrister, Benet Hytner QC, told Liverpool High Court that after the tragedy Daniel's father, a quantity surveyor, irrationally blamed the mother and the couple split up

Janet Grier, a nurse, was left to bring up Daniel, now 24, and his two brothers single-handedly at their home in Murdishaw.

She looked after him at home for two years but, because of the accident, he has violent outbursts and she had to have him institutionalised but regularly visits him.

Approving the out-of-court settlement, the judge, Mr Justice Elias, told Mrs Grier that the court's sympathy went out to her and he was glad for her that the matter had now come to a conclusion.

"You clearly must have had an exceptionally difficult time one way and another," he said.

After the hearing, the family's solicitor, Doug Fraser, of Silverman Livermore, praised Mrs Grier for her devotion to Daniel.

"She is a very sensible, level-headed woman who deserves huge admiration for the way she has looked after him," he said.

Daniel lives in sheltered accommodation in St Helens run by the Transitional Rehabilitation Unit where he needs constant supervision.

British Railways Board admitted liability after Daniel's lawyers were able to show that two fences to prevent access to the area where the accident happened had been damaged, said Mr Fraser.

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