A mechanic who has waited seven years for £500 compensation after he was beaten with a pool cue in an Oxford pub has been asked to write off the debt for the second time.

Attacker Raymond Smith is in prison and court officials asked his victim, Dale Webb, 29, to write off the payout because Smith cannot afford it.

Mr Webb, whose three-month-old daughter is about to have a hernia operation, said he was too busy to deal with the courts but his mother, Pam Sullivan-Webb, has vowed to keep fighting for the money.

Court officials claim getting compensation out of some criminals was almost impossible.

Mrs Sullivan-Webb, 49, of Wey Road, Berinsfield, said: "It's ridiculous.

"We're not giving permission to scrap this. It was a big court case and this makes the court system a joke.

"I received a letter on Monday, March 29, telling us the defendant's circumstances had changed due to his imprisonment, and asking if magistrates could consider writing off the compensation.

"It's nine years since the offence and whenever we have asked for the money we have been fobbed off by court staff.

"They say they can't find him, or a warrant has been issued for his arrest, or he is in prison. Now he's obviously serving a custodial sentence. They know where he is, so there's no excuse." In 2002 the Oxford Mail reported that Mr Webb had waited five years for the compensation.

The only time the courts contacted him was the first time they asked for permission to write off the money, because they claimed it was too difficult to trace Smith.

The attack happened in 1995, but Smith was not sentenced until 1997, when he was given a two-year conditional discharge and told to pay compensation.

Smith had picked a fight with Mr Webb at the Nelson pub, in Cowley.

Colin Dawkins, principal payments enforcement officer for Thames Valley's courts, said: "Getting compensation can be like getting blood out of a stone. This sounds like the standard letter that goes out to victims to ask if magistrates can add to a defendant's jail sentence in lieu of compensation.

"That doesn't stop a victim taking out a private prosecution in the county court, but if people won't pay, we can't squeeze money out of them."