A former paratrooper who was blinded in a vicious attack after an argument outside a chip shop has won £118,000 in compensation.

Michael Reynolds, 54, was left for dead in a pool of blood after the assault in 2001 and his sight was permanently damaged.

He has spent five years fighting a legal battle for compensation as the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) originally ruled he was ineligible.

Mr Reynolds, a father-of-two from Worthing, said: "The blindness has devastated my life. I am relieved the case is over but I feel other people have suffered less than me and received more money.

"I don't think the compensation is adequate but I will have to make do with it."

Mr Reynolds was attacked by Andrew Walden, 38, of Church Street, Littlehampton in May 2001 after a late-night altercation at The Blue Ocean Fish Bar in South Street, Worthing.

Mr Reynolds intervened when a number of customers started abusing chip shop staff. The argument seemed to calm down but Mr Reynolds was then attacked after he left the shop. He was wearing a collar and tie and blazer with the Parachute Regiment badge.

Details of the brutal assault had to be pieced together by police using CCTV footage and forensic evidence because Mr Reynolds had no memory of the incident. Mr Walden, who had been drinking heavily, also claimed not to remember the attack.

Mr Reynolds was found unconscious in a pool of blood with a nail in his shoulder outside a friend's house in Bedford Row. He woke up in hospital with a fractured skull after ten days in a coma.

An operation left him with a metal plate in his skull and his sight deteriorated. He is now registered blind and can't work again.

Mr Walden, a former Sussex county cricketer, was sentenced to two and a half years in 2002 for causing grievous bodily harm.

Mr Reynolds said: "I think the sentence was far too short. I can no longer enjoy life."

He began his campaign for compensation but was originally refused as CICA said Mr Reynolds had provoked the attack by intervening at the chip shop.

Lix Dux, of law firm Russell Jones and Walker, represented Mr Reynolds in his appeal.

She said: "Our appeal was based on the fact he thought he had settled the altercation amicably and was attacked in a separate, but related, incident.

"We fought very hard to ensure Mr Reynolds received justice, but the fact is this award will have to last him for the rest of his life and his eyesight will never improve. Compensation levels for injuries are woefully inadequate."