A test case court ruling earlier this year which stripped a Medway teenager of an estimated £1 million compensation for injuries he received in a freak accident on a bouncy castle has won the backing of the highest court in the land – the House of Lords.

Three law lords have refused permission for an appeal on behalf of tragic Samuel Harris, now 13, against an Appeal Court ruling that he is not entitled to compensation for the devastating injuries which have left him wholly dependant on others.

In what is believed to have been the first claim over a bouncy castle party accident Samuel, through his mother, Janet Harris, of Greenways, Long Lane, Gedney Hill, Spalding, Lincolnshire, had sued Timothy and Catherine Perry of Jersey Road, Rochester who had booked the castle for a party for their 10-year-old triplets.

In May this year Samuel’s claim was allowed by a High Court judge who ruled that there should be a later hearing to assess how much should be paid in damages. However, it was unofficially estimated that the amount could be as high as £1 million.

At the same time the High Court dismissed a claim against Samuel’s father, David Harris of Jersey Road, Rochester, Kent, who had taken him to the party where the tragedy occurred.

In the Appeal Court, however, in reversing the ruling that Samuel was entitled to anything the then Lord Chief Justice, Lord Philips, said in July that the Perrys were not to be held to blame for what happened.

In the decision now backed by the law lords Lord Phillips, referring to Mrs Perry who had been supervising children on the castle said : “The issue is whether a reasonably careful parent could have acted in the same way as the defendant.

“The case does not turn on expert evidence or special knowledge.

"Essentially we have had to place ourselves in the shoes of the defendant and consider the adequacy of her conduct from that viewpoint and with the knowledge that she had.

“Each of us had the same reaction to the facts. The defendant could not be held at fault for the way that she acted.

"The manner in which she was supervising activities on the bouncy castle and the bungee run accorded with the demands of reasonable care for the children using them.

"The accident was a freak and tragic accident.

"It occurred without fault.”