Daily Mail readers donate astonishing £210,000 to help paratrooper Ben fight for fairer compensation

Lance Bombardier Parkinson and his family asked Daily Mail readers to help raise £50,000 to fund his battle to force the Government to offer fairer compensation payments to the most severely-wounded soldiers.

In a sign of the huge sympathy for the plight of ordinary servicemen, they responded with overwhelming generosity and raised more than four times that amount in just three weeks.

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Ben, 23, is currently being treated at the Headley Court military rehabilitation centre in Surrey, where his family say he is beginning to show signs of encouraging progress.

He was blown up by a landmine in southern Afghanistan last year while serving with the 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, and was not expected to live.

He lost both legs, suffered severe fractures all over his body including to his skull, spine, arms and pelvis, while brain damage left him unable to speak and with no memory of the past three years.

Doctors described him as the most

injured soldier to survive in modern times, yet Whitehall red tape meant he was offered a lump sum of just £152,000 – less than a third of the £484,000 compensation paid to a civilian RAF typist who sued after developing a repetitive strain injury in her hand.

The rules of the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme mean that troops can be compensated only for the worst three injuries from any one incident, meaning that most of Ben's wounds count for nothing.

Yesterday, his mother Diane Dernie said the flood of cash donations and letters of support had hugely boosted his morale and left him determined to force the Government to change its policy. Ministers have promised a review of the way the most severely wounded troops are compensated.

But its findings, which were promised for last week but delayed, are expected to cover only those with multiple injuries such as Ben – which would be no help to heroes such as Lance Corporal Martin Edwards.

The 25-year-old from Leeds was left brain-damaged by a roadside bomb in Iraq but has been offered only £114,000 compensation by the Ministry of Defence because he has been classed as suffering a 'single' injury.

Yesterday, his wife Sarah, 23, described the offer as an insult.

Doctors have told her that her husband will need life-long care, making it very difficult for Mrs Edwards to provide for him and their 20-month- old son, Phoenix.

She said her husband had been ready to 'sacrifice everything' for his country.

'He may be physically fine, but his mind will never be the same.

'I feel that there is a responsibility to recognise the sacrifices he made, and I don't think they have done that.'

m.hickley@dailymail.co.uk