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Personal Injury News

A Commando receives six figure compensation after winning a rare personal injury case against the MOD

A Commando from South Devon will receive a six-figure sum in compensation after winning a rare personal injury case against the Ministry of Defence.

Champion Royal Marine boxer Angelo Tovagliari, 29, was set for a career in the Special Boat Service until he was pushed out of the back of a truck by a senior officer.

That senior officer was later shot and killed by another British soldier as he lay in a hammock in Afghanistan.

The MoD fought Angelo all the way but he won his case at Torquay County Court and will receive tens of thousands of pounds in damages.

Fitness fanatic Angelo grew up in Newton Abbot and joined the Marines in 1996. He went on to become a champion boxer, competed in Navy triathlon competitions and helped raise more than £100,000 by trekking across the formidable Namib Desert in Africa.

Before he was assaulted in 1999 he was recommended for a call-up to the elite SBS.

But the injuries he sustained after the incident involving a senior officer put paid to his sporting and soldiering ambitions and left him embittered and disillusioned.

He is now getting his life back on track with a new ambition to become a sports physiotherapist.

Angelo was invalided out of the Royal Marines late last year with a £9,000 pay-off and a £200 monthly pension. He said: "I'm not looking for sympathy. I want people to know that I stood up to the MoD. I was a strong, fit person and now I've lost a lot of weight. The army never took action against this soldier because if they had it would have been an admission of liability.

"I was carrying out my duties when I was assaulted by a senior officer.

"I didn't want to leave, so when they discharged me I had to dig in and do something about it."

Angelo remortgaged his house in Rydon Acres, Kingsteignton, to pay his £20,000 legal fees, but found that taking his former employer to court was easier said than done. He said: "It was a nightmare. They didn't reply to letters and they ignored court deadlines.

"Then they sent me a letter saying that if I lost I'd be liable for their costs of £30,000. I was looking at a £50,000 debt for life.

"Sueing someone was the last thing I ever thought I'd do in my life.

"At first I did nothing about it. It was only when I realised how serious my injuries were that I took action."

The Royal Marine Lance Corporal was on exercise in Egypt when he was assaulted by the colleague while on a routine errand.

Asked to return a batch of ammunition to a logistics unit, Angelo did as instructed.

The Corporal there refused to sign for the delivery. When Angelo remonstrated with him, he assaulted him and shoved him backwards out of the truck.

Angelo landed heavily, suffering serious tissue and muscle damage, a broken hand and a prolapsed disc. He will never play sports again and is still in pain four years after the incident.

Richard Blair, of South Devon solicitors Woollcombe Beer Watts, handled Angelo's case.

He said: "A military inquiry was held but no charges resulted.

"The back injury was so serious that Angelo could not continue as an infantry soldier.

"It ended his career."

A hearing at Torquay County Court established the MoD's liability.

Mr Blair added: "It was a significant victory for us because the ministry always fights these cases tooth and nail."

Mr Blair added: "My client went to law because he felt a burning sense of injustice.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: "The ministry considers claims for compensation on the basis of legal liability.

"Where there is a proven legal liability to pay compensation we do so."

In Angelo's case the MoD had been advised that it had no grounds for an appeal.

Angelo's compensation will be calculated over the next few months.

South Devon Herald Express: 16/01/2004