A WOMAN has launched a legal battle for compensation after suffering a debilitating back injury and a series of infections, which she says was due to water and sewage leaks beneath her home.

Karen Imber, 52, suffered a series of floods and a potentially dangerous gas leak in her home in Warley Road in Woodford Green in the summer of 2006, before falling and badly injuring her arm and back on July 4 of that year.

She fell on a patch of slippery algae that had accumulated on her drive as as result of the flood water.

She later learned that a nearby sewage pipe was leaking, and the resultant build-up of pressure had caused cracks in both the water and gas mains serving her home.

The leak meant that sewage had begun to accumulate in a cavity in the ground underneath her home, which Mrs Imber said was responsible for her illness.

She said: “It's been horrendous. When I fell I ruptured three discs, and from the build-up of sewage I got an ulcer in my stomach, and then the infection spread to my gall bladder, which I've had to have removed.

“I had to put up with being flooded three times and then evacuated because of the gas leak, which could have exploded.

Mrs Imber was working in a legal capacity for a property firm but has been unable to work since last November.

She has now taken her legal fight against Thames Water to the High Court, who she says failed to act to stop the leak despite repeated complaints.

Mrs Imber added: “I'm now living in rented accommodation at the moment because my house is being worked on to repair it from all the damage that happened during the floods.”

Thames Water declined to comment on the situation because of the ongoing legal proceedings.