The Metropolitan Police have been left with a £500,000 bill after a civilian technician was left in fear of HIV after cutting his fingers on a knife left behind in a squad car.
The force had accused Alexander Darg, of "wanting to be a millionaire" and coming to court in search "a quick bit of cash", even backing up their claims that he was exaggerating his disabilities with DVDs, secretly shot by inquiry agents. However, top judge, Sir Robert Nelson, accepted that his suffering was genuine and awarded Mr Darg, of Meopham, Kent, £400,000 damages.
Mr Darg was checking an air bag fault in the police car at east London's Limehouse Police Station in September 2002 when his fingers slid along the blade of the knife which had been left wedged between the two front seats, London's High Court heard.
The cuts to two fingers on the mobile vehicle technician's left hand have long since healed, but the accident left him in terror of HIV and triggered devastating Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), affecting many parts of his body. He has been unable to work since.
In court, the Met's lawyers accused Mr Darg of "spicing up" his disabilities. They attacked his damages claim as "essentially false" and argued he was due compensation only for superficial lacerations to his fingers which had swiftly healed.
Mr Darg had originally claimed about a million pounds in damages from the Met and, although the judge cut that down to £400,000, the force will still have to pay the heavy legal costs of the High Court hearing. They must pay the first £100,000 tranche of those costs straight away.
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