A judge in London has ruled in favour of a blind adventurer who sued friends after he was left paralysed after falling from a window in their home.

Mark Pollock, originally from Holywood in Co Down, suffered a serious spinal injury in the fall in July 2010.

It left him confined to a wheelchair and dependent on care.

He will now receive compensation from his friends' household insurers to cover the cost of his long-term care.

A year before his accident, Mark had become the first blind person to trek to the South Pole.

A statement released on Mr Pollock's behalf says: "Mark limited the sum claimed in damages to the limit of his friend's insurance policy, so that they would not have to pay anything personally as a result of his claim. The claim was therefore limited to a fraction of its full value. "

"The damages that Mark will recover are essential to assist him with this additional care and rehabilitation needs following the accident."

Mr Justice William Davis found that 'an open window did create an obvious risk for a blind person, particularly when it was on the second storey of the house with nothing to prevent a fall to the ground below.'

Mark has also explained the reasons he took the case in a post on his blog.