A newly married man whose sex drive became uncontrollable after he suffered a head injury at work won more than £3m damages at the high court yesterday.
Stephen Tame, 29, had been married to Sarah, 30, for eight months when he fell from a gantry while working in a cycle warehouse in January 2002. Although he recovered from the accident after two years of treatment, the injury unleashed a libido that could not be kept in check, the court was told.
Judge Michael Harris, awarding £3.166m damages, said Mr Tame had misbehaved in the presence of women, watched pornographic videos and called phone sex lines.
His loss of inhibition also led to him making embarrassing remarks and interrupting conversations.
Mr Tame's lawyer, Bill Braithwaite QC, said his client had visited a prostitute and had an affair with a 57-year-old woman, which the judge said could destroy his marriage. The accident left him impatient and aggressive, the judge said. Doubts over the future of his marriage meant he would require professional care to rebuild his life.
Mrs Tame is living with her parents in Basildon and receiving treatment for clinical depression.
Giving evidence at an earlier hearing, she said: "We love each other but the love is slowly going. We love each other but it's not 'in love'. I love Steve but it's turning into friendship." The judge said Mr Tame was extremely unlikely to find paid work again.
He said: "This young man has been transformed and in a sense the fact that he has some awareness makes it worse because every moment he is reminded of what he might have been but for the accident. On my conclusions, he has lost his marriage and probably lost the prospect of a family."
Mr Tame's former employer, Professional Cycling Marketing, of Wickford, Essex, had admitted liability but contested the amount of the award, arguing he would be capable of working up to 16 hours a week in the future, and that his marriage might survive.
Neither Mr Tame, who was expected to die after the accident and spent 53 days in a coma, nor his wife was in court for the ruling.
The couple are churchgoing Christians. The judge said that no one who had seen Mrs Tame give evidence could fail to recognise how fragile she was.
He said: "There is no doubt that both of them have derived huge comfort from membership of their church and a reinforcement, if you like, of the duty which they feel towards each other as husband and wife."
The court was told that Mr Tame had made an appointment to see a divorce lawyer, although he had not kept it, while it was apparent that his wife was torn between a sense of duty to keep the marriage alive and a growing awareness that this would not be possible.
As well as difficulty in controlling his sex drive, Mr Tame still suffers from a range of disabilities including tunnel vision, a difficulty in tolerating noise, weakness on his left side, slurred speech, fatigue and poor concentration and memory. He helps at a charity shop three days a week.
First impression when i got inside was how small it was, they've cut the room by half n still its only just about half full, i guess there were around 1000 ish peoples in there. What must go though his mind when he come out, taveling all the way only to see n half full audience.
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