A landmark ruling which allowed a five-year-old boy to win compensation after he was attacked by another child with a car jack "opens the floodgates" for playground injury claims, his family's lawyer said.
Jay Jones was just three when he was battered around the head and face by a three-year-old playmate as the children were left alone in a car.
The attacker could not be prosecuted because he was too young, which meant Jay could not claim compensation for his injuries.
According to the criminal justice system, a child must be over 10 to have criminal responsibility, but this case establishes a claimant merely has to prove a criminal act. David Kirwan, from Kirwans Solicitors, who represented the the victim, said: "It's a landmark decision, there's no previous precedent. It opens the floodgates and I'm quite sure there will be a lot of cases."
Jay, of Wirral, Merseyside, was struck 11 times as his attacker continued to lash out even though he was screaming in pain and bleeding profusely. He was rescued when the other boy's parents heard his shouts and noticed the car windscreen had been cracked, such was the ferocity of the assault.
Following his client's successful appeal to the Tribunals Service, Mr Kirwan said: "The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) risibly argued that because the child was under 10, there was no criminal intent. When we went on the first appeal it was argued by CICA that it was an accident, which is so ridiculous as to be unbelievable.
"The doctor in the hospital had described our client's injuries as the worst of a child that age sustained at the hands of a child of equal age with a weapon." The attacker has since been taken into care.
Jay's mother Renai Williams, 29, told Sky News she did not know how much compensation her son would receive.
A CICA spokesman said: "We express our sympathy to all victims of crime and their families. We make payments to victims of violent crime as a gesture of public sympathy - to show that society recognises what they have suffered. To ensure that the application of the scheme is as robust as possible there are safeguards built in.
"All cases are decided on their own merits and, if an applicant does not think their case was assessed fairly, they may apply to have it reviewed. If the applicant remains unhappy after the review they can appeal to an independent tribunal."
