A war widow has won £20,000 compensation after a badly fitted radiator fell from a wall and trapped her for 14 hours.

Margaretta Lewis, 87, was knocked unconscious in the incident and suffered serious burns as the heater pinned her to the ground.

She also suffered a fractured hip and a broken ankle and spent six weeks in hospital.

Mrs Lewis, from Worthing, now plans to spend the compensation she received in an out of court settlement on her first-ever holiday.

She said: “I’m going to go to Bournemouth for a month and blow all the money on a holiday.

“I’ve never been in a hotel or had a holiday in my life, so it will be a big day for me.”

Mrs Lewis, whose husband Ivor was killed in action while flying for the RAF over France in 1943, had the heater fitted in July 2005 at a cost of £495. But three months later it fell on her after she heard a noise coming from it. The radiator’s wall brackets gave way as she approached.

She said: “It came away from the wall because it had been fitted with the wrong types of screw. It had been put up with tiny ones instead of large ones.

“It knocked me down at 10pm and it was only when the man from the meals on wheels service came round at noon the following day that I was able to get any help.

“Unfortunately I wasn’t wearing my panic button so I wasn’t able to summon any help before.

“It was an absolutely awful experience and I still haven’t got over it.

“I can’t go out, I’ve got problems with my nervous system and it’s all because of this incident.

“It was a terrible experience. I would hate to think of anyone else going through such a thing. I felt so helpless and thought I was going to die.

“I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I was when I was found and when the ambulance turned up. I’ll never forget the relief when they lifted the radiator off my legs”.

Mrs Lewis was this week awarded £20,000 after an admission of liability from the company that carried out the work on the electric radiator, Chris Fosbury Electrical, based in Worthing.

Mr Fosbury, owner of the firm, immediately apologised in a letter to Mrs Lewis.

Solicitor Richard Biggs, from Manchester-based law firm Ralli, said: “It was a very difficult case but we managed to settle out of court.”