STUART Sokell knows a great deal about fighting back.

The teenager, from Binchester, near Bishop Auckland, had a liver transplant when he was five but has battled his way to full health.

But the 17-year-old was devastated yesterday when thieves wrote off his Mini Sprite car and dumped it at the A1M, near Durham.

Stuart's mother, Elizabeth Sokell, said: "I bought the car for when he passed his driving test. It was to celebrate his life. He's lucky to be alive to start with, because he was very ill when he had the transplant.

"He still goes for tests every year, and he thought with having the car he would be able to do things on his own and go to the hospital by himself.

"It was to give him independence, but now someone's taken that away from him."

The teenager won a bronze medal in a throwing event at the National Transplant Games, in Glasgow, in 1991. He attends Bishop Auckland College.

Mrs Sokell said the first they heard of the theft was when police called at 2.30am yesterday.

"If I had some money I would put up a reward to try and catch them," she said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Bishop Auckland police on (01388) 603566