THE mother of a young man left seriously brain damaged after a town centre attack is disgusted a claim for £500,000 compensation has been rejected.

Pamela Walkden is angry that her son Craig Williams, who was in a coma for three months following the beating, will receive no more than £20,000.

She said more than half of this has been spent hiring legal experts to try to secure a bigger award.

She is worried her son may not get the care he needs when she is too old to look after him.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority ruled at an appeal hearing that the victim should not receive any more money because he agreed to enter a fight.

Mrs Walkden, of Hulton Lane, Deane, said: "It's absolutely appalling. We want the seriousness of his injuries recognised by someone.

"We are stuck in this terrible situation and nobody seems to want to help us.

"He may have argued with the person who hit him, like young lads do, but there is no evidence to suggest he threw one single punch."

Craig nearly died after the attack in 1997 during one of his first nights out in Bolton town centre. He was 17.

The teenager involved in the attack was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to causing intentional grievous bodily harm.

At one point, his family was given the choice to switch off the life support machine, but they refused and he fought back.

A top neurologist who treated him said his injuries were the worst case of brain damage he had ever seen and it was thought at first the teenager would never be able to use his hands or legs again.

He can now walk short distances and has limited use of his hands.

But many everyday tasks are too difficult.

Now aged 21, Craig has moved to his own ground floor flat on Carslake Avenue, off Chorley New Road, to try to get some independence.

Mrs Walkden, who said Craig was "gutted" when he heard about the decision at the hearing in Manchester earlier this week, said: "Half a million pounds may seem like a lot of money to people, but it's not when it has got to last him his whole life.

"He can't work or get a mortgage. He used to be a truck engineer, but is now struggling to survive on benefits."

A spokesman for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority said he could not comment on individual cases, but explained that the organisation had strict rules laid down by Parliament dictating how much money they could award.

He said: "This is the most generous scheme of its kind in the world. The taxpayer gives £200 million a year to the victims of crime. It appears that the appeals panel in this case has decided the amount awarded is sufficient."