A former nurse was awarded £150,000 compensation after a priest drove into her car, leaving her disabled.

Andrina Kickham, 30, who lived in Barton Village Road, Headington, Oxford, at the time, has never recovered from the accident in July 1992.

She has to use a wheelchair and sticks to get about after a car driven by the Rev Anthony Simms ran into the back of her car in London Road, Headington.

The sum was agreed on the sixth day of the trial at London's High Court.

Miss Kickham, then aged 23, was stationary in her car at the A40 roundabout at Headington when the accident happened,.

When she confronted Mr Simms he told her: "My dear, if you are driving, you should expect to have accidents," her counsel George Pulman, told the court. Insurers for Mr Simms, of Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, admitted liability in the case but disputed the severity of Miss Kickham's injuries.

They claimed the accident had been "a modest bump of no significance."

Mr Pulman told the court when he opened the case last week Miss Kickham, who now lives at St Leonards Road, Windsor, Berkshire, had suffered "significant" whiplash injuries to her neck, back and arms, which had responded "poorly to intervention over the years."

"There have been emotional aspects as well as poor sleeping, tending to wake during the night and tearfulness and depression."

Giving evidence Miss Kickham said she was forced to give up nursing two and a half years after the accident because of increasing pain. She said: "I was dealing with a great deal of problems and one of them was an awful lot of pain to cope with and I had to leave because of the exacerbating pain.

"I was also very black in my own mind because I felt very hopeless and helpless in that I couldn't get any better and I couldn't assist my own pain."

Mr Pulman said she had been an active, fun-loving woman before the accident.

She had enjoyed judo and dancing and had wanted to specialise in orthopaedic nursing.

She had been awarded the Duke of Edinburgh's medal at the age of 16 for her sporting achievements.

He said: "She is not a malingerer. She has not exaggerated her symptoms. Her symptoms are genuine and cause her very significant disability."

They agreed to pay Miss Kickham's costs.

Story date: Wednesday 17 November

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