A battling birdman has claimed a victory in a court battle to prove he

was the rightful winner of the competition in Eastbourne.

Artist Richard Geiger entered a birdman contest in which contestants leapt from Eastbourne Pier and flapped as hard as they could.

He missed out on the £1,000 prize but Bromley County Court yesterday agreed he was the winner and awarded him the £1,000 plus £215 in legal costs, ending his fight for justice.

He has now won the right to call himself the Birdman of Biggin Hill after he was robbed of the title by entertainment giants First Leisure two years ago.

Father-of-two Richard, 58, said: "There are two categories in this competition - a serious category which is judged on technical originality and distance and a second, the idiots contest.

"I entered the serious contest using wings I built myself. On the day the only other contestant in the serious category was going to use a hang-glider. But he decided on the day that the wind was too strong and he leapt from the pier with just a plastic bag held over his head.

"Even though he went further than I did, I felt he should have been in the idiots contest. Today the court agreed with me. This is a victory for the British sense of fair play."

Winner David Bradshaw, who beat Mr Geiger by one metre using his hang-glider carrybag as a parachute, shared the £1,000 prize with the winner of the comedy section.

The pier's current birdman record is 32ft but the weather conditions were blamed on the day for contestants' failure to get anywhere near.

Among the competitors was one dressed as a sparrow, an alien egg piloted by Mr Geiger's son Peter, 27, and one as a canary.

First Leisure tried to reach agreement with Mr Geiger twice before yesterday's judgement.

Mr Geiger, said: "A couple of weeks ago they offered me £600 to go £1,000 pier victory for birdman away. I thought this was a joke and I tore up their cheque.

Another cheque for £1,060 arrived this morning and they admitted liability in the letter attached. But I wanted my day in court and refused to accept that offer as well."

He explained that his design was based on the flying wing design as used in top secret Stealth bombers. The 14ft wingspan was constructed from wood and paper strapped to Mr Geiger's chest with two seatbelts from a Britannia airliner.

It cost him around £300 to build and took almost a week. On the day in August, 1998, when it carried him 13 metres it was destroyed when he dropped 45ft into the sea.

Richard, who lives with his wife Pat at the edge of Biggin Hill Airport, Kent, is a lifelong flying enthusiast.

He has been a self-employed artist for more than 30 years, mostly painting and graphic design, but his passion is model aircraft.

A spokesman for First Leisure said the company would allow the winners to keep their prize money. First Leisure has sold the pier and now runs only nightclubs.

Saadia Ahmad, said: "We have decided to settle the £1,215 awarded by the court in full.

"We regard Mr Geiger as a nuisance claim. We had nothing to do with the contest."

Mr Geiger promised he would try again in the Birdman of Bognor competition next year, where he plans to scoop the £5,000 prize.