PARENTS of a girl left severely disabled at birth received nearly £4m in damages yesterday after a seven-year battle for compensation.

Susan and Kevin Hubery have struggled to look after 14-year-old Emma, who has cerebral palsy.

Her brain was starved of oxygen when she was born at Sunderland General Hospital.

The couple, from Easington, County Durham, were locked in a legal battle with the hospital until October 2002, when health chiefs admitted Emma's injuries could have been prevented if they had induced her 90 minutes earlier.

In October 2002, a High Court judge decided a large settlement was owing to the family. Since then, Mr and Mrs Hubery have received £10,000, which helped pay for a holiday to Disneyworld.

But yesterday a judge at Newcastle Crown Court finalised the settlement at £3.5m. It is hoped the money will help the family settle into their newly adapted house.

Mr Hubery said: "Since the judgement, nothing has changed, really. Susan and I are still doing everything ourselves. We have a new bungalow now but we can't move in until all the building work has been carried out for Emma's wheelchair.

"At the moment I am still carrying her up and down the stairs and she is a teenager now so she weighs a lot.

"Our terraced house isn't big enough for our needs and we can't buy the car we need for Emma because there is no room to park it outside."

The damages have been calculated to cover care for Emma until the end of her life and compensate her parents.

Emma, who attends a special school near her home, requires constant care.

Mrs Hubery gave up her administration job to look after her daughter full-time because the family could not afford nursing help.

A spokesman for Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust said at the time of the settlement: "We are pleased that the legal action is now being resolved and hope the settlement Emma receives will contribute towards improving her standard of life for the future."