A WORCESTER model who had faulty breast implants removed after they were deemed unsafe has been awarded compensation following a landmark legal ruling.

Elizabeth Cathey, aged 26, had the silicone inserted when she was 18, but had them taken out last year after health fears over the substandard implants.

She had her implants removed at her own cost, and the silicone inside was found to have leaked.

She has since been battling for a legal settlement and was delighted when on Friday a ruling in a commercial court in Toulon, France, opened the way to interim compensation of 3,000 euros, with the possibility of this being increased to 16,000 euros if an appeal fails.

The court ruled that German safety company, TUV Rheinland, which certified the substandard implants, shared responsibility with the now bankrupt French supplier Poly Implant Prothèse, meaning more than 1,600 women, including about 100 in Britain, will receive the initial settlement.

“We have had so much bad luck with everything,” said Miss Cathey.

“I think I had written it off in my head.

“It is amazing that somebody has finally listened to us.”

Before this successful outcome Miss Cathey had fought for compensation through solicitors in the UK who eventually told her they could not continue the case.

So she decided to pay £30, along with fellow members of the UK-based PIP Action Campaign group, to pursue this last route.

“I am so glad I paid this,” she said.

“We all stuck together and said ‘what have we got to lose?’.

"The last few years we have been constantly worrying about it.

"I have got problems from the implants and I have to have another operation in January so it’s more money to spend.”

A hearing to decide the claim for 16,000 euros will take place next year.