Review of soldier's compensation

12 April 2012

The Government has pledged to review the compensation offered to a soldier who sustained horrific injuries during a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan which killed three of his comrades.

Lance Corporal Martyn Compton suffered third degree burns to 70% of his body, plus a gunshot wound to his leg, during a roadside bomb attack in Helmand Province in August 2006.

He was awarded £163,000 by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) - well below the £285,000 maximum limit - but veterans minister Derek Twigg told MPs he would "look again" at L/Cpl Compton's file.

L/Cpl Compton, who served with The Life Guards, Household Cavalry Regiment, was the only survivor of the attack, losing his ears and nose, and was shot in the leg as he crawled 80 metres to safety.

He has since undergone intense medical treatment at the Broomfield Hospital in Essex and rehabilitation at the Defence Services Medical Rehabilitation Centre Headley Court in Surrey.

His case was raised in Parliament by former Lifeguard Hugh Robertson, Tory MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, who said the compensation payment was "inadequate recompense".

He said L/Cpl Compton, from Staplehurst, Kent, appeared to have received the "lowest amount available for each of his specific injuries".

Describing the soldier as a "wholly extraordinary man", he told the Westminster Hall debate: "There is a very clear case for the minister to call for the file personally and look again at this case, as quickly as possible, with a view to awarding him the maximum compensation payable."

L/Cpl Compton was driving a Spartan armoured reconnaissance vehicle when it was attacked with an improvised explosive device and a rocket propelled grenade.

Mr Twigg also assured the injured soldier that officials would shortly carry out an assessment for his Guaranteed Income Payment, a scheme designed to support wounded veterans for the rest of their lives.

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