THE wife of a Royal Marine from Cwmbran who lost an £8 million damages claim has denied her husband was looking to secure the seven-figure sum.

Spencer Vaughan, 27, was paralysed after diving into shallow water off a beach in Gran Canaria while on a training exercise with his commando unit in July 2009. He said he went to “cool off” into the sea but his head struck a sand bar he had not seen.

Left an incomplete tetraplegic, Mr Vaughan, who now lives in Plymouth, claimed his superiors should have done more to protect him by issuing a general warning about possible dangers.

But following a trial earlier this month, Mr Justice William Davis dismissed Mr Vaughan's claim on Wednesday. The young marine had 'misjudged' the position with 'catastrophic' results, said the judge.

Malcolm Sheehan QC, for the MoD, said Mr Vaughan was "chilling out" on the beach with colleagues and that it was "unrealistic" to suggest he was still on duty and that the MoD were responsible for his injuries.

But Mr Vaughan's wife claimed there were a number of glaring omissions in what the court heard and called the £8 million figure 'exaggerated'. She said: “We strongly believe he was on duty when he was in Gran Canaria and there was no Baywatch-style dive like the court said.

“He was never given instructions to take out military travel insurance and the MoD let him down. I would like every soldier to be made aware that if they are out with the MoD: take out holiday insurance.

“If Spencer was aware that he would have taken out travel insurance and that would have protected him."

She added: “We hadn’t heard the £8 million figure until we saw it on the news. I don’t know where it came from – his barrister never said it – and they’ve made him out to be greedy.

“We asked for £450,000 and a military pension."

Mr Vaughan is now without any hand function and spent 15 months at the Rookwood Hospital in Cardiff. He is now working on a sports biomedicine and nutrition degree at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

With her husband unable to speak to the media due to his position, Mrs Vaughan said the case has taken its toll on them.

She said: "We didn’t decide to take on the MOD lightly in the first place and we’re absolutely gutted.

“It was tragic enough without going to court and we’re glad it’s done now. You can’t change what happened and we couldn’t go through it again.

“He’s still classed as a serving marine, but it won’t last forever.

"We’ll survive this and it will make us stronger.”