A KEEN sportsman can no longer carry out most of his pastimes after an industrial accident in which his hand was caught in a machine.

Sam Ellwood suffered severed tendons in the fingers of his right hand, which was cut to the bone after threads on a glove he was wearing were dragged into the grinder.

The accident has left him unable to grip with his right hand, and means he can no longer box, play football, work-out or play pool and snooker.

It has also made it difficult for him to dress, wash, shave, eat and perform many other everyday tasks.

The injury has dashed any hopes the 24-year-old had to follow in the footsteps of his elder brother, Eddie, a five-time Mr Universe.

Durham Crown Court was told that his employer, Dong Jin Limited, of Peterlee's North-West Industrial Estate, failed to carry out adequate risk assessment of the computer-operated surface grinding machine, which would have led to safety modifications being made to prevent such an accident.

The court heard that the Korean company, which manufactures doors for micro-wave ovens, was previously fined £10,000 for breaching health and safety regulations over inadequately guarded power presses.

On Monday, it was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £4,242 costs for the latest offence, failing to make suitable risk assessment on the operation of the grinding machine.

The company admitted the charge, brought by the Health and Safety Executive, at a previous hearing.

David Rowland, for the company, said the machine was decommissioned after the accident last April and an evaluation took place with the Italian manufacturer before adequate safety measures were put in place.

He said: "No stone was left uncovered in terms of remedying what has gone wrong.

"They do not want to put their employees at risk in what is, by nature, a risky business.