Prisoner awarded £4m after 'catastrophic' cell fall

In 2007, High Court judge Mr Justice Mackay ruled that "delays and deficiencies" on the part of prison staff amounted to negligence and said the Home Office was 85 per cent to blame for Ryan St George's injuries.

The following year, the Court of Appeal allowed St George's appeal against the finding of 15 per cent contributory negligence, which was made on the basis that his own "lifestyle choices" had contributed to his condition and caused the initial fit.

Yesterday, the case came back to court in London for Mr Justice Mackay to approve an agreed settlement which will pay for the 24-hour care which St George, now 41, will always need. he can no longer walk

The judge had heard that, on his admission to Brixton in October 1997 to serve a four-month sentence for theft, St George had disclosed that he was a heroin user, heavy drinker and had been having fits.

The following month he was moved from a bottom bunk to an upper bunk, from which he fell six feet on to a concrete floor during a seizure, and went into an epileptic fit lasting an hour and three quarters.

An ambulance was called and was already delayed by over half an hour when it arrived at the prison and experienced a further delay because one of the gates was "stuck".

When the two ambulance crew got to St George he was: "In as bad a state as a person can be without being dead," said the judge. The scene was chaotic and the only information the ambulance crew got was from other inmates.

The judge said the breaches of duty of care – the delay in Mr St George's treatment and the failure to maintain his airway and administer oxygen – caused him to suffer brain damage when he was already having a seizure.

The court heard St George's aunt Margaret, aged 77, had devotedly cared for him but the award would now fund commercial care.