RAF typist who hurt thumb is awarded eight times more than soldier who lost leg

The civilian's award is almost 30 times the amount a serviceman would receive for the same injury.

It is eight times more than a soldier would receive for losing a leg and almost double the amount he could expect if he lost both legs.

The £484,000 payout was condemned by former soldiers, politicians and servicemen's charities who fear it will severely damage morale.

The woman, believed to be in her 20s, developed a repetitive strain injury while typing computer data.

She claimed it left her unable to work and caused her to become depressed, and she started legal action against the MoD.

Tory defence spokesman Liam Fox said: "I think it is indicative of a very weird set of priorities that those who are injured carrying out orders are less well compensated than those who are typing up the orders."

Critics claimed it was an insult to the 2,626 British servicemen who have been injured fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Defence analyst Major Charles Heyman said: "An award like this to a civilian who is never going to be in fear of her life drags down morale.

"It shows where the MoD's priorities lie and those don't appear to be with the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The soldiers will be shocked and astounded as they all know people with severe injuries who got nothing like that."

Jerome Church, secretary of the British Limbless Ex-servicemen's Association, said: "It would be laughable if it wasn't so outrageous.

"Hearing about this would certainly upset the soldiers coming back from war zones with serious injuries."

The woman was working as a data input clerk for the RAF when she developed an injury in her right hand.

It was later diagnosed as de Quervain's tenosynovitis - a repetitive strain-type injury in which the tendons at the base of the thumb become inflamed.

The woman claimed her injury left her unable to work and also caused her to become depressed.

She sued the MoD and it was revealed that she was awarded a total of £484,000 in compensation and associated costs.

Legal sources estimated that her total costs for the action would be unlikely to amount to more than £50,000, meaning she would pocket about £434,000.

This dwarfs the sums offered to serving members of the armed forces who could expect a one-off payment of just £16,500 for the same injury.

It is almost double the £285,000 a soldier can expect if he loses two limbs while fighting for his country.

The official tariff of compensation for injuries lists £28,750 for someone blinded in one eye; £57,500 for the loss of a leg and just £8,250 for injuries associated with surviving a gunshot wound.

Serving military personnel operate under what are called Queen's Regulations.

Under these rules they give up certain rights normally available to British employees.

MoD personnel are employed under civilian working laws which make suing for compensation easier.

An RAF spokesman would say only: "The MoD takes the welfare of our personnel, particularly those serving on operations, very seriously.

"Where we have a legal liability to pay compensation for a work related injury we do so."

•Sergeant Trevor Walker, who lost a leg while serving in Bosnia, would welcome any compensation.

His limb was shattered by a shell from a Serbian tank as he was building a road with the Royal Engineers in May 1995.

Despite 13 operations it had to be amputated above the knee the following year and he applied for £150,000 compensation.

But the MoD refused to pay because it had decided - without telling troops - that the compensation rules would not apply to soldiers injured while serving in the former Yugoslavia.

If Sergeant Walker, from Gillingham, Kent, had been serving in Northern Ireland, which was at peace, it would have paid out under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Overseas Scheme.

His lawyers appealed to the High Court, claiming the Government behaved unfairly by changing the rules without telling troops, but lost the case.

The married ex-soldier has described the effect on his life of losing his leg: "Just the simple things, like playing with the kids to the extent that what you used to do, you can't do it.

"Walking from A to B, where previously I would have not bothered about walking four or five miles, just for a breath of fresh air, now it's a couple of hundred metres."

˜Private Steve Baldwin, 22, was badly injured in a bomb attack in Iraq which killed three of his friends of the 1st Battalion Staffordshire Regiment in 2005.

Most of his body was scarred, he almost lost his right arm and was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. Compensation: £10,000.