Personal Injury Solicitors

A father whose daughter received severe injuries in a car crash – leaving her unlikely to reach adulthood – has spoken out, after the driver who ploughed into her into 2006 was jailed for an attack on two men in a bar last April.

The Birmingham Mail reports that the father of Cerys Edwards says his daughter – now aged nine – has been in hospital since November 2014 after her condition deteriorated.

Cerys Edwards was injured after 19-year-old Antonio Boparan crashed a powerful Range Rover Sport into her parents’ car, as he drove at more than 70mph on the wrong side of Streetly Lane in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands in November 2006. The road had a speed limit of 30mph.

Builder Gareth Edwards spoke out after Boparan was sentenced for an attack in April 2014 on two men in a bar – in which Boparan hospitalised the victims, after punching, kicking and hitting them with broken bottles. Boparan, 28, was jailed after pleading guilty to violent disorder and assault at the Nuvo Bar. After sentencing, he issued a statement apologising for his “limited part” in the brawl – his lawyers claim that he acted in self-defence.

Mr Edwards’ daughter was nearly killed in the road traffic accident caused by Boparan eight years’ ago, when Cerys was nearly one and the family were returning from delivering Christmas presents to family members.

Her injuries are so severe that Mr Edwards says medical experts advise she is unlikely to live beyond her fourteenth birthday.

“Before Christmas, Cerys was very poorly and was on the edge of life,” he said.

“Thankfully, new medicines appear to have worked and Cerys is one hundred per cent better than she was, but she remains in hospital.

“Although her condition has now improved, I’m fully aware she will die from the injuries that were caused by Antonio Boparan – and I know there’s no medical cure for the serious brain and spinal injuries she suffered.

“Cerys is nine-years-old now – and the experts have always given her a life expectancy of fourteen. It is likely that she will not reach that age,” he added.

“She has deteriorated a lot in the last eighteen months – and it breaks my heart to know that there is nothing I can do.”

Mr Edwards said that doctors have described his daughter’s condition as “locked in” – but added that she was a “fighter”.

“The strength she has shown is incredible – she is always smiling, but it is so difficult to know that we will never be able to hear her talk.

“It has been described by the doctors as being ‘locked in’ – but there is still a sparkle in her eyes and that smile lights up every room she is in.”

He said that the family’s lives “had been ruled” by the effects of the car crash caused by Boparan, however.

“Cerys is totally dependant on medical interventions to keep her alive – and she needs staff around her twenty-four hours a day.”

In 2009, Boparan’s parents – whose business was listed fifth on the Birmingham Post’s Midlands Rich List 2015 – founded the Boparan Charitable Trust in the wake of the crash involving Cerys. Disadvantaged, disabled and terminally ill children across the UK have received support from the trust.

It is reported Cerys has not received any financial support from the trust, however – although Boparan contributed £200,000 to an adapted home for her.

In 2012, a court awarded Cerys £5 million in compensation for the 2006 road crash, with a guaranteed annual payout of £450,000 for the rest of her life.

The legal fight to secure the compensation from Boparan’s insurers took more than five years, says Mr Edwards – and while on bail for the accident involving Cerys, Boparan was stopped for speeding at 95mph along the Aston Expressway in central Birmingham.

In response to the crash which left Cerys with catastrophic injuries, the Birmingham Mail backed a successful campaign which resulted in a change in the law – and an increase from two to five years maximum prison sentence for motorists convicted of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Had Cerys lost her life in the car crash in which she was left critically injured, Boparan could have faced 14 years in jail for causing death by dangerous driving.

“Like any parent, you want to see your daughter go to school, to get a job,” said Mr Edwards.

“You want to walk her down the aisle and you want her to have her own children.

“I know that none of those things will ever happen for Cerys.”

Duncan Lewis Personal Injury Solicitors – No win no fee Road Traffic Accident Claims

Duncan Lewis is a leading firm of no win no fee claims solicitors able to advise those injured in road traffic accidents as a result of another motorist’s negligence on how to make a claim for compensation.

Claims for road traffic accidents are usually made within three years of injury occurring – and children injured in road traffic accidents can claim compensation up to the age of 21.

Duncan Lewis can also advise bereaved families on claiming compensation if a loved one suffers catastrophic injury in a road traffic accident – or loses their life in a road traffic accident resulting from driver negligence, poorly maintained road surfaces or poor road signage.

For expert legal advice on now win no fee Road Traffic Accident Claims, contact Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors on 020 7923 4020.