Student paralysed in skydive accident sues for £15million

A DEPRESSED student left paralysed after breaking her neck in a university parachute jump is suing for £15million, claiming that medics should not have cleared her as fit to skydive.

- BY NEV AYLING

Miriam Barker, 29, was at Southampton University studying history and philosophy when a pal persuaded her to join the Skydiving Society, tackling her first jump in April 2018.

Although her chute opening correctly she landed far too heavily, flipping upside down and fracturing her neck and back in the impact, rendering her tetraplegic.

Her lawyers claim that her mental fragility impaired her "ability to concentrate and to perform effective and timely decision making in a stressful situation".

The accident, at Dunkeswell Airfield, in Honiton, Devon, caused a "catastrophic spinal cord injury" and Ms Barker is now wheelchair-reliant, still in pain and unable to work, said her lawyers.