THE mother of an Isle of Wight schoolboy stripped of £4,250 in damages awarded after he fell from a swing has hit out at the decision.

Michelle Simonds, 36, said she was disappointed by yesterday's High Court ruling and she criticised her local council for spending money fighting the case.

Yesterday Mr Justice Gross said it was madness that Ryan, now 12, had been awarded the compensation following a fall on playing fields near his home at Rookley.

Ryan, then five, fractured his arm in two places when he fell off a swing while playing during a Chillerton Primary School sports day in July 1997.

But when told the payment had been rescinded, Mrs Simonds said: "The IW Council should have better things to spend its money on than fighting through the courts to overturn what is a relatively small amount of money.

"I believe I was right to take the case to court in the first place.

"I did what any mother would. I was sticking up for my son and for what was right.

"This was never done for the money. I have six children aged between 16 and two and I know what children are like.

"But I believe that when they are in school they should be properly supervised. I don't expect a child of five to suffer a badly-broken arm while at school.

"Ryan still gets a stinging sensation in his arm. He has been through a lot and still his handwriting suffers although it is getting better.

"We never had the money. It was being held by the courts and Ryan would have received it when he was 18.

"Though it would not have been a huge amount, it would have given Ryan a start."

The council welcomed the judgement and said it was a victory for common sense that would help to secure the future of events such as school sports days.