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A man celebrated victory today after a judge ordered tech giant Apple to pay him £1,200 compensation for destroying his honeymoon photos.

Newly-wed Deric White was furious when snaps of him and bride Maria,50, in the Seychelles were wiped from his iPhone5.

The pictures were deleted by technical staff in the "genius bar" at Apple's flagship London store while they were fixing a fault in the phone.

The judge ruled Apple were "negligent".

Jubilant Deric,68, said after the case: "They have dragged me through the mud for this.

"It's a victory for the common man who sought to stand up against multi-national corporations.

"They should be brought to boot when they do wrong, but they are usually too big for anybody to take on."

Photos of African rhinos and elephants and a video of a giant tortoise biting Deric's hand were wiped from the phone along with pictures from his £7,500 honeymoon and the details of contacts accumulated over 15 years.

(Image: Central News)

Property manager Deric told the London County Court: "I was absolutely livid and my wife had been in tears.

"We had beautiful pictures of the Seychelles and other pictures as well.

"All my contacts had gone and they had vandalised my phone.

"They knew they had done this and send me on my way. This is where my anger is - they sent me on my way like an imbecile.

"I really do take umbrage with Apple - at times I want to drop this, but I think how dare they just do that."

Deric took his phone for repair at Apple's store in Regent Street while he bought wife Maria a Christmas present last December.

Next day he went back to the store and demanded the return of his data after realising it had all been erased when Apple staff reset the phone to factory settings.

Deric told the court: "I said I'm not leaving the building, you will have to call the police'.

"I just wasn't going to let it drop, why should I let someone tread all over me and treat me like an imbecile and then walk away and be left with all the mess to pick up?

"Apple is left in all their glory and saying how much they care."

Deric, from Pimlico, London, initially demanded £7,000 compensation from Apple but later offered to settle for a new computer screen and printer, worth around £1,000.

But Apple refused to resolve the issue out of court.

(Image: splashnews.com)

District Judge Ruth Fine told the hearing: "This could easily have been settled if common sense had come into the arena."

Awarding Deric £1,200 compensation plus £773 court costs, the judge said: "I accept the claimant's version of events.

"The defendant's employees were negligent in the treatment of the claimant's telephone, causing the claimant loss of photographs of particular sentimental value and the loss of all his contacts.

"I'm satisfied he was unable to retrieve the lost photographs and contact details.

"Just because damages are difficult to assess does not disentitle a claimant to compensation."

Apple's lawyer Victoria Nottage told the court: "The claimant made the affirmative decision to take the phone into the Apple store in Regent Street to have the phone serviced or repaired.

"In doing that, he made the decision to hand the phone over to them knowing the iPhone was not backed up and the pictures and videos were therefore at risk.

"It's the defendant's case he did warn Mr White in restoring the phone the data was in jeopardy, they couldn't guarantee its integrity.

"It is something we inform all customers of before they carry out any action on phones or iPads."