A FORMER boy band singer is to receive £3 million (€3.3 million) in compensation for injuries he suffered in a road crash.
Lawyers for Owen Griffin (26) agreed one of the biggest settlements of its kind in Northern Ireland ahead of a claim for damages which was due to open at the High Court in Belfast.
Mr Griffin, from Waterford, brought the personal injury case over a car crash which also claimed two lives.
He was asleep in the back of a vehicle which collided head-on with a motorcycle in Scotland in March 2004. A man riding the bike and the five-year-old son of car driver Malcolm Hayes, whom the claim was made against, were both killed in the incident. Liability was not disputed, which was brought in Northern Ireland because Mr Hayes is from Omagh, Co Tyrone. The figure to be paid out was agreed with insurers for the defendant.
Mr Griffin suffered severe brain and physical injuries, and was left in a coma for weeks.
At the time of the incident he had overcome a troubled background to win the final of a Stars in Your Eyes talent contest in Killarney, Co Kerry, in 2002.
Spurred on by that success, he went on to front fledgling Co Fermanagh-based boy band Idolize, which were due to support top acts Westlife and Girls Aloud. He was also the band’s songwriter.
He has no memory of the incident and still struggles with the physical and psychological impact of his injuries. In February 2007 he was admitted to an assisted living scheme in Waterford.
Mr Griffin is not expected to return to full-time work, with little evidence that his position will improve. According to a nursing care consultant, he would need supervision with specially-trained carers if he ever left the scheme.