AN ACCIDENT victim accused of lying to obtain £3.4 million in damages has spoken out about his ordeal after being cleared of exaggerating his injuries.

Insurance company Direct Line won the right to appeal against the compensation award after private detectives filmed Mark Noble, of Wareham, walking and driving a dumper truck after giving evidence at the time of the payment that he was virtually wheelchair-bound.

But a High Court judge has dismissed claims that Mr Noble had dishonestly misled the court, meaning he can keep the cash.

“Not a day has passed in almost eight years that I haven’t felt the effects of the accident,” said Mr Noble, formerly a builder of Ryan Close, Ferndown.

“Direct Line’s allegations that I have lied and profited from this tragedy are sickening.

“I lead a life of painkillers and antibiotics. My life and that of my family will never be the same again.

“I wake up never knowing how I will feel and what I will have to face. Direct Line have made a tragedy more painful and extreme and I can’t forgive them for what they have put me through.”

Mr Noble suffered serious injuries when his motorbike collided with a car driven by Martin Owens from Bartley, near Southampton, in September 2003.

Mr Owens admitted liability for the accident, on the A336 near Cadnam, Hampshire and Mr Noble was awarded compensation in March 2008.

But a tip-off from a neighbour led to the appeal and an order was made to freeze the £2.25m already paid out.

In court yesterday Mr Justice Field said: “Mr Noble was determined to try to walk unaided and may have been confident that somehow he would succeed in doing so, but he did not dishonestly conceal from the court or the expert witnesses his then true state of disability or dishonestly emphasise his disability.”

Afterwards, Mr Noble's solicitor David Williams, from RWPS Law, said: "After three uncertain and troubling years, it is at last time for Mark Noble to get on with his life.

"Over a year ago the majority of his damages were frozen meaning that he was unable to put in place many of the arrangements he wanted to so that he could get on with his life following these devastating injuries.

"He and his partner have had to endure a second trial in which they were accused of lying, but their account has been accepted and the challenge to the award rejected.

"It is a victory of sorts for Mark's integrity to be vindicated but he will never have the life he had before the accident and the extra pain and suffering he has had to endure.

"This is a most unusual case which has taken considerable fortitude on the part of Mark and his partner to fight. We are naturally pleased that a just result has been achieved."