A five-year-old boy from Deal who was the victim of an NHS blunder at birth has been awarded millions of pounds in compensation.

Marcus Wright faces a lifetime of appalling disability and has been given an “unreserved public apology” for the error that wrecked his life.

London’s High Court was told that when the child was born at Kent and Canterbury Hospital in April 2003, medics failed to spot a malformation which, at that early stage, could have been effectively treated.

The condition meant Marcus’s bowels could not open normally and, in the days after his birth, his mother, Becky Craggs, now 22, noticed he was not thriving.

At two weeks old he fell desperately ill and his life was only saved by emergency treatment at a London children’s hospital. Marcus was left acutely brain damaged.

He has to be fed through a tube, his vision is badly impaired, he cannot speak and will need 24-hour care for life.

Through his mother, Marcus sued the NHS Trust, which admitted liability for his injuries at an early stage.

The settlement means he will receive a lump sum payment of £925,000, mostly to pay for a specially adapted home in Wilson Avenue, along with index-linked annual payments to cover care costs.

They will start at around £45,000 annually, rising to £89,000-a-year when he is 12. From the age of 19, they will increase to £145,000-a-year.

Neither Marcus, nor his parents, were in court to hear the settlement announced and his mother did not wish to speak to comment.

See this week's East Kent Mercury for more details.