A REVELLER sprayed in the face with CS gas by police officers while firefighters battled a blaze at the Sugar Hut has been awarded £21,000 in compensation.
Essex Police agreed the out-of-court settlement with Alan Lethbridge, who says he has suffered mental health problems since being sprayed in September 2009.
Officers standing at a cordon around the burning Sugar Hut nightclub were called to neighbouring O'Neill's bar to help eject Mr Lethbridge.
A struggle ensued and he received a cut to his right eyebrow and was then sprayed as police pushed him onto the bonnet of a police car.
The incident was caught on camera by photographers who had rushed to the High Street to capture images of the blaze.
Mr Lethbridge, 34, from Harold Hill, near Romford, said: "My life has been turned upside down. After the incident I got diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
"The year after that, the doctor diagnosed me with depression and the last five years have been the worst of my life.
"It has been a complete and utter nightmare for me and my family. I've been ill so I have not been able to work a lot of the time.
"I've been trying to get work but it's just that nothing has seemed to be going together."
Two police officers, who used CS gas to restrain Mr Lethbridge after the dispute, were cleared following an investigation in 2010. A further investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission concluded there was no misconduct.
Mr Lethbridge's own conviction for assaulting a paramedic who went to his aid was quashed at appeal in 2010.
The former builder said: "I got cleared of all charges and of any wrongdoing whatsoever and I got sort of attacked by the police.
"Although they admitted liability after five years of fighting, I still haven't even got an apology.
"I just want to start living normally. I've been stuck in this flat for five years with this condition. I just want to get my life back.
"I've bought a van and I've got a job with a logistics firm."
The Sugar Hut fire caused extensive damage and the club was closed for almost a year.
Crews fought the flames as they tore through the 500-year-old Grade II listed building, which would later become a regular feature on ITV2's Towie.
Mr Lethbridge was jailed for a year for violent disorder in 2003. He said: "I've been on anti-depressants and through three or four sets of different counselling and nothing has helped.
"I have had to just cope with it and live with it.
"Ten years ago I got quite a bad criminal record but it doesn't matter what happened then, no one deserves what happened to me.
"One thing has led to another and my head has not been the same since."
