AN accident during Army manoeuvres has left a Basingstoke NHS worker plagued by pain and limb-numbness, the High Court has been told.

However, Sally Fawdry, a 30-year-old capacity manager at Basingstoke hospital, saw her bid to gain £500,000 in compensation from the MOD dismissed on Friday.

Ms Fawdrey hung her head in despair after Judge Sir Ian Kennedy rejected claims that an accident in October 1998 during an infantry attack exercise resulted from poor Army training and an ill-fitting infantry helmet.

The judge said there was no suggestion that Ms Fawdry had been dishonest in her re-telling of the events four years ago, and it was accepted on all sides that she sustained a soft-tissue injury when going to ground during the exercise.

But he said: "I cannot accept her account of events leading up to the accident, or the mechanics of the accident itself.

"I am not persuaded that the helmet was loose, or, if it was loose, that its looseness played any part in what followed."

Ms Fawdry, of Kiln Road, Sherbourne St John, was undergoing intensive Army training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, with a view to being commissioned into the Nursing Corps, when disaster struck.

Following a rigorous 24-hour exercise, she was participating in a simulated section attack, in which cadets were instructed to take cover on the ground as if under enemy fire.

She told the court she suffered "excruciating pain" in her neck when diving to take cover with her SA80 rifle, pack and helmet during a simulated attack.

"Just as I landed on the ground there was intense pain going through my neck," she said. "I tried to carry on. I had great problems lifting my head up to see where I was going but I didn't want to show any weakness, so I carried on for 20 minutes."

She said when she had to run back to camp, the pain was so intense she lost sensation in both hands.

She added that she is still plagued by pain in the right arm and shoulder, and that the arm sporadically becomes numb.

But Sir Ian exonerated the MoD from any blame for the accident, ruling that Army instructors had given full training into how to fall safely.

He described the Sandhurst instructors as among the best of their kind.

The mock section attack was part of a two-week Sandhurst course designed to give professional candidates a taste of the hardships of the field.

Sir Ian said the MoD accepted that Ms Fawdry had sustained some neck damage, and was not being accused of malingering, but concluded that none of the doctors who have seen her have settled upon a diagnosis.

He dismissed her claims of breach of duty against the MoD, adding that it was now unnecessary to analyse the medical evidence "in light of my findings".