A FACTORY worker injured by a heavy roll of foil wrapping while packing Tunes sweets has lost out on a five-figure compensation payout.

Nada Fadil Medenni, 33, of Fernhurst Close, Beaconsfield, was expecting as much as a £50,000 windfall from Mars when, last September, Reading County Court found the confectionery giant negligent and liable for injuries she suffered during the night shift at its factory in Liverpool Road, Slough.

Mrs Medenni was struck in the shoulder by an 11kg roll of foil wrapping when packing Tunes throat sweets on August 21, 2002.

She claimed her injury was so bad she lost much of the use of her right arm and had to undergo hours of physiotherapy and hydro-therapy.

But the original judgement was overturned on Monday at the Court of Appeal.

Lord Justice Dyson, sitting with Lord Justice Brooke and Lord Justice Tuckey, said such findings were "inconsistent with the case".

In the original trial Judge Brian Catlin had rejected claims made by Mrs Medenni that a colleague had not put the roll onto a machine properly, and was at fault.

He also dismissed Mars's defence which stated it was Mrs Medenni who had made the mistake.

Instead he blamed an unidentified "third man", a theory which had not been proposed by either side.

Lord Justice Dyson said: "A judge is compelled to reject the claim even if he or she is convinced it would have succeeded on another basis.

"Any other approach leads to uncertainty and unfairness."

He called Judge Catlin's decision "impermissible" and said he should have stuck to the facts of the case, as mention of the "third man theory" was "half-hearted" and "late-in-the-day".

It had also not been discussed with any of the witnesses who gave evidence.

Mrs Medenni will now receive nothing for her injuries.