Cerys in line for £5 million payout over crash injuries

A six-year-old girl left with horrific injuries following a car crash was today receiving a multi-million pound payout from the insurers of a millionaire's son.

Cerys Edwards was 11 months old when her family's car was hit head-on by driver Antonio Singh Boparan, who had been travelling more than 70mph in a 30mph zone, leaving her paralysed and unable to breathe without a ventilator.

Boparan is the son of Ranjit Singh Boparan, who owns the West Bromwich-based 2 Sisters Food Group.

Today the long legal battle following the crash in November 2006 was due to finally be resolved in front of Judge Martin McKenna at Birmingham County Court.

And it has emerged that Cerys, from Sutton Coldfield, could be in line for a £5 million compensation, as well as an annual payout of £450,000 for the rest of her life.

Boparan was 19 when he lost control of his mother's high performance Range Rover while overtaking in 2006. He was caught using evidence collected from the airbag sensors and found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court in April 2007. He had passed his test just six months before.

He was driving at more than 70mph in a 30mph zone and was on the wrong side of the road when the head-on crash happened in Streetly Lane, Sutton Coldfield.

Boparan, from Sutton Coldfield, would have faced up to 14 years in prison if Cerys had died.

But instead he served six months of a 21-month sentence after being found guilty of dangerous driving in 2008.

Cerys' parents were unavailable for comment but it is understood the settlement will help pay for her accommodation and round-the-clock nursing needs.

Cerys, who has been dependent on a ventilator and a team of nurses since the crash, received an interim payment of £800,000 from the Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group in 2008.

The group has also paid towards her care costs since she moved into an adapted home at the end of 2010.