An NHS trust has been ordered to pay out £7.1 million in compensation to a boy who was left brain damaged due to errors surrounding his birth.

Harry Snowdon, now ten, was starved of oxygen after his delivery was delayed for four hours at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital in 1999.

His mother Debra had been given too much of a drug that causes labour and the baby was in distress in the birth canal, but a lack of monitoring led to the devastating errors and Harry was born with brain damage.

He now has no sense of danger and has violent mood swings, meaning that he will never be able to live independently.

This week, Mr Justice Holroyde ruled that the "negligence of the defendants’ medical and nursing staff in the management of his birth" led to his disabilities.

Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust admitted liability and has now agreed to a £7.1 million compensation payout.

"We are relieved the settlement has eventually been agreed and we will not have to worry about what will happen to him when we are no longer around," said Ms Snowdon.

According to the Centre for Neuro Skills, over 1,000 children die or suffer permanent brain injury every year in the UK because of shortage of oxygen around the time of birth.