A ROYAL Marine, originally from Cwmbran, who is suing the Ministry of Defence for up to £8 million has denied that he broke his neck in a Canary Island beach tragedy while performing a "Baywatch-style" running dive.

Spencer Vaughan, 27, was left crippled after diving into shallow waters off a beach in Gran Canaria while on an adventure training exercise with his commando unit in July 2009.

He and his comrades had been seconded to participate in an off-shore sailing trip as part of the exercise, touring the warm waters of the Canary Islands aboard a naval yacht.

Mr Vaughan came to grief as he and his pals were swimming and exercising on the beach, London's High Court heard.

He walked into the sea to "cool off", said Mr Vaughan, executing a shallow, surface dive as the waters reached waist height.

Tragically, his head struck a sand bar the marine had not seen or expected, the court heard, resulting in devastating spinal injuries.

Mr Vaughan, who lives in Plymouth, is now an incomplete tetraplegic and gave his evidence from his wheelchair.

He is seeking massive damages from the MoD, saying his superiors should have issued a general warning about the dangers of diving into shallow waters.

At the time, he was a relatively young and inexperienced marine, said his QC, Michael Rawlinson, having enlisted just over a year before the accident.

Despite his devastating injuries Mr Vaughan has fought back to make a new life for himself.

He has trained as a fitness instructor, and is starting a degree in sports bio-medicine and nutrition at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

In court, Mr Vaughan insisted that he was "on duty" when he came to grief, having gone to the beach to exercise and to wash in the water.

One of the issues Mr Justice William Davis has to decide is whether the accident happened in the course of Mr Vaughan's "employment".

Malcolm Sheehan QC, for the MoD, suggested to Mr Vaughan that he and his comrades were simply "chilling out" on the beach.

"It is unrealistic to say that you were on duty because you had a free choice about how to spend your time", the barrister said.

Mr Vaughan agreed that he and his fellow marines were "relaxing and chilling out", but said their primary purpose was to exercise and to swim.

The QC referred him to "other accounts" which suggested that he "ran into the water and then carried out a Baywatch-style dive".

"Is that what happened before your injury?" he asked.

"No," said Mr Vaughan, who insisted that he had walked carefully into the water to avoid a young family in front of him.

Mr Sheehan said he had "every sympathy" for Mr Vaughan's plight, but added: "On the facts of this case there is no basis for a finding of negligence on the part of the MoD".

He pointed out that Mr Vaughan was a "trained Royal Marine" taking part in an adventure training exercise.

"While on the beach he chose to undertake an inherently and obviously risky activity when he dived into water of unknown depth, sustaining his serious injuries".

He "took an ill-judged decision to run an obvious risk", argued the QC, adding: "He did so in the absence of any order or other pressure from his superiors or peers".

Mr Justice Davis has now reserved his judgment on the case and will give his ruling at a later date.