A TEENAGER who was badly injured when a van was deliberately driven into him could receive a payout of £500,000 in damages.

Mark Newcombe, 38, was found guilty of dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm after he drove his van into a group of youths, including Graham Tomkins, then 17. He was jailed for three years and three months.

Mr Tomkins was left fighting for his life after the attack and had to have 11 metal plates put in his skull.

Two other teenagers, Shaun Cox and Daniel Jeffries, both 18 at the time, were also injured.

At Newcombe’s trial, the court heard he had been accused of over-inflating the tyres of a pushbike belonging to Mr Tomkins, of Wise Ave-nue, Kidlington, so that they burst.

Mr Tomkins and a group of friends reacted by damaging Newcombe’s van with knives and baseball bats while it was parked at his home in Jerome Way, Shipton-on-Cherwell.

Newcombe then leapt into the van, which had two slashed tyres, and pursued the youths.

He drove towards them up a grass verge, hitting Mr Tomkins who suffered a fractured skull and brain damage.

Sentencing Newcombe at Oxford Crown Court in 2007, Judge Tom Corrie said what he did was a “grotesque over-reaction”.

He told Newcombe: “There is no doubt that these boys were foolish and vindictive, and fuelled by drink it seems.

“But your reaction was so far over the top that it cannot count as any form of provocation.”

Lawyers for Mr Tomkins, now 21, said he has since suffered loss of memory and faces an increased risk of epilepsy, as well as enduring “flashbacks and nightmares”.

Quintin Tudor-Evans, for Newcombe, told London’s High Court it had now been agreed that Mr Tomkins would be compensated for his injuries on the basis that he was 20 per cent liable for the incident.

High Court judge Mr Justice Owen approved the compromise and, unless final settlement terms are agreed in the meantime, the case will return to court in the future for Mr Tomkins’ damages to be assessed.

Lawyers confirmed outside court that, even after a 20 per cent deduction, Mr Tomkins’ injuries were so severe that he could n be in line for a damages payout of more than £500,000.