Graham Hopp loses damages case against former employer and MoD over injuries caused by roadside bomb in Iraq

An engineer who was seriously injured in Iraq has lost his damages claim against Mott MacDonald and the Ministry of Defence.

Graham Hopps鈥檚 arm was shattered when his Land Rover was hit by a blast from a roadside bomb in Basra in 2003.

The electrical engineer鈥檚 counsel, Nigel Wilkinson QC, said that the soft-skinned vehicle provided by the MoD for civilian workers offered inadequate protection.

In the High Court he also claimed that Mott MacDonald should have done more to assess the security risks when it took on the contract.

The judge Mr Justice Christopher Clarke dismissed the case. He said it was impossible to conclude whether a more robust vehicle would have prevented the injuries suffered by Hopps.

As well as losing his right shoulder, Hopps suffered 136 fractures in his arm and hearing loss. An Iraqi passenger died in the explosion.

In a statement to the court Hopps said: "Every now and again I can picture the bang and I have difficulty sitting in the back of a car.

"I still have pictures in my mind of what happened and I recall thinking that I had lost my arm and holding on to it for dear life."

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