‘I FELT MY BODY SNAP’ Mum, 46, left paralysed after being ‘catapulted’ from super-king bed during sex with partner sues for £1m. The mum-of-four is suing the bed suppliers after claiming the bed was in a ‘defective state’
A WOMAN who was left paralysed after being “catapulted” from her super-king bed during sex is suing the bed suppliers for £1m compensation.
Claire Busby suffered a serious spinal injury after she fell from the super king-size double divan whilst changing positions.
The 46-year-old was kneeling in the middle of the bed performing a sex act on her partner when she decided to change positions.
Claire told the High Court this is when the bed gave way and she fell off and landed on her head.
She said: “I spun around, I put my hand down and then I felt like I was catapulted off the back of the bed.
“My head hit the floor, I fell to the side and then I heard like a spring in my body snap, it felt like.”
The mum-of-four claims the bed was in a “defective state” and has taken legal action against the Berkshire Bed Company, trading as Beds Are Uzzz, which supplied it.
The supplier denies any liability for Claire’s injuries and is arguing the bed was properly assembled.
The bed was one of five that were delivered to Claire’s home in Maidenhead, Berks when she was renovating the property in August 2013, the court heard.
Claire told the court she was injured a week after the bed was delivered.
Her sister, Natalie, told the court that she went to the visit her sister after the accident and saw “two feet” were missing from the bed.
However, they pair did not discuss the matter right away because Claire was in such poor health.
She said: “Claire wasn’t in any fit state to be having a conversation, at one point she had two heart attacks in 24 hours.
“It was touch and go whether she was going to make it.”
Claire claims the divans that make up the base of the bed were never properly fastened together and the two “gliders”, or feet, were missing from the end of the bed.
She said this created a height difference between one end of the bed and another.
Her barrister Winston Hunter QC said Claire expected the mattress to support her weight, but it failed to and she continued moving “backwards and downwards”.
He told the court: “It is the claimant’s case that the point at which she left the bed is precisely the location where the different height of the two divans was at its maximum.
“It represented the area where the mattress was most likely to ‘fall away’ due to the fact that it was partially unsupported.”
Lawyers for the bed company argue the bed was properly assembled when it was delivered and even if the two feet had gone missing it still would not have caused Claire to fall off the way she said she did.
Neil Block QC, for the firm, said: “It is overwhelmingly likely that, whatever her actions, they were too close to the edge of the bed and she simply lost balance and toppled backwards.”
The hearing continues.
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