Iraqi boy to get 2 mn pounds as damages by UK govt

The compensation is higher than anything paid to a British soldier injured in Iraq.

The Ministry of Defence said the payout was “not a precedent, it is an exceptional case”.

“It is not expected that there are any other cases of such severity,” an official spokesman said.

The MoD also rejected comparisons with the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme for injured British troops, which offers individuals a maximum payment of 285,000 pounds.

The ministry said in addition to this sum, the most seriously injured receive a guaranteed income payment, which is tax-free and index linked, for the rest of their lives and this can total hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The spokesman said the payout reflected the costs of caring for the teenager for the rest of his life and that the MoD had accepted that the shot that injured him was a “negligent discharge”.

The boy was wounded in September 2003 when a British soldier, whom he had befriended, accidentally dropped his gun at a gate in southern Iraq, making the weapon go off.

The Iraqi, who was aged 13 at the time of the mishap, later moved to the UK where he began legal action through the British courts.