Leading acrobat injured in Dome plunge wins £510,000 compensation
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A leading British acrobat, who suffered multiple injuries when she fell 20ft during a high-act display in the Millennium Dome, has won a record £510,000 in compensation.
Dozens of shocked visitors to the London attraction saw Suzy Barton fall on to the Dome's concrete floor, snapping her spine and breaking bones in her pelvis, feet and wrist.
The accident ended the career of one of Britain's highest-paid acrobatic performers as she was about to broaden her work to production and choreography. Soon after, she split up with her long-term boyfriend.
She now needs daily help to do ordinary household work and must live with the prognosis of osteoarthritis.
Ms Barton, 34, suffered three fractures to her spine and two to her pelvis in the accident three years ago. One foot was broken and the other was so shattered her toes were left deformed. Her wrist was also broken.
On the day of the accident Ms Barton was on the second of her three daily performances outside the Money Zone in the Dome. She was suspended from a helium balloon that was "walked'' around the various exhibitions. For the second performance, Ms Barton's harness was changed in a hasty turn-around but not properly secured.
Ms Barton still remembers what happened immediately after the metal pins came loose from the harness. "It was very, very fast. There was no warning. It was instantaneous. I fell on to my feet, screamed and then buckled over the metal harness. That's when I heard my back snapping.'' She also suffered injuries to her hands, which she threw out in an attempt to break her fall, from the harness. She says not a day goes by when she does not feel pain in her feet, back or hands.
Her employer, the Dream Engine, has admitted liability and in a High Court settlement agreed to pay her £510,000 compensation, as well as all the legal fees.
The case, supported by the actors' union Equity, is the biggest settlement for a performer injured in the UK. It is surpassed only by the £650,000 paid to the family of the comic actor Roy Kinnear, who died in a riding accident while filming in Spain in the mid-1990s.
Ms Barton's solicitor, Elizabeth Smith, of the London firm Douglas-Mann & Co, who also acted in the Kinnear case, said the Dome settlement was high because of the "substantial'' salary her client was earning at the time.
She added: "The evidence submitted in this case was that Suzy was one of the best artists of her kind in this country and was set to continue her career in choreography and production. She was also a very fine dancer.'' Suzy Barton, which is her performing name, trained in gymnastics from the age of four and was a member of the British National Gymnastics squad through to her teens. She combined her interest in gymnastics with ballet and jazz.
Her first professional performance was as one of the acrobatic children in Aida. She also appeared in Barnum in the West End and was the lead dancer in a national tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Aspects of Love.
Before her accident, Ms Barton's main work was in television commercials and trade shows, performing both acrobatics and dancing. She has also performed in the feature filmsMerlin, Fairy Tale - a True Story and Tenth Kingdom.
Ms Barton is now working as a receptionist at a physiotherapy clinic. She said: "I will never be able to resume my old career, so I now want to study Pilates, so that I can use it to help people who have trouble leading active lives.
"I have led a very active life and now I have to be careful how long I'm on my feet and what I'm doing; my whole pace of life has changed. The doctors agree the shattered fractures in my feet are going to get worse, so I have to think long-term. The prognosis isn't great and I have got to think that I might not always be able to work, even part-time. It's been very frustrating and depressing and I want to put it behind me and move on as much as possible."
Ms Barton says she will use the compensation to finance her continuing treatment as well as her care. Dream Engine was unavailable for comment.