'I won huge payout in work accident that saw both arms amputated – now I've lost it all'

A grandad who landed a seven-figure work payout after a life-changing revealed how he shockingly lost it all. Robert Cooke, 65, had both of his arms amputated after a near-fatal injury when he was blasted by while fitting equipment at the Swansea North sub station, in .

Despite receiving a huge £1.8 million payout, the former electric fitter from revealed he was on the brink of losing his . Cooke claimed he lost nearly all of his cash after £900,000 in an opportunity told to him by a well-known property developer he thought he could trust.

Cooke, an ex-semi-pro footballer, said he owes a staggering £227,000 for the mortgage on his home, struggles to afford food, and relies on his sister and 85-year-old mother for care. The grandad told : "I'm living off my benefits and pension. I struggle to afford food. I can't put the heating on all the time and my mother suffers then."

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Cooke's life changed in 1999 when the then 40-year-old was blasted by a 33,000 volt explosion after he touching live wires at work. His employer Hyder Utilities – the now-defunct parent company of Swalec – was fined £50,000 at Swansea after pleading guilty to failing to ensure there were sufficient danger notices.

The former electric fitter spent days in a coma after almost a quarter of his body was severely burnt. Cooke eventually landed on a huge settlement payment worth around £1.8 million but was left with around £1 million after making changes to his home and the breakdown of his .

Cooke said his financial situation changed after he met property developer Richard Hayward at a Swansea pub the former electric fitter bought. The grandad put £900,000 into a firm owned by Hayward that was developing housing at the site of the former Stelco Hardy steel piping factory in Blaenrhondda, Rhondda Cynon Taf.

The grandad claimed what he did not know when he made the investment in 2007 was that Environment Agency Wales had months earlier stated "such developments should not be permitted" due to flood risk. Planning permission was refused in 2008 and the site is still undeveloped. In response Hayward, 74, claimed: "We had an expert who appeared confident in resolving the [flood] issue".

Around £500,000 of Cooke's cash was a loan to the firm while the other £300,000 bought him a shareholding. Hayward told WalesOnline "all investment can go wrong" and blamed Cooke's plight on him going bankrupt in late 2009 and then losing the shareholding.

The grandad claimed he had no real understanding of the companies and only put in money based on his faith in Hayward. In 2014 Hayward himself wrote to Cooke's trustee in bankruptcy and said: "You can see that the value in the companies has become negative and Mr Cooke's interest has fallen away."

Cooke claimed that this eye-watering investment has contributed to the desperate situation he is now in. He suffered three strokes in recent years – which he alleged were to the stress of his financial problems. He said: "There's not a day I don't think about what I've lost because there are lots of things I can't do. I feel let down."

Hayward told WalesOnline "the and the difficulty of funding" has affected his companies development plans. He added: "In 2007-8 property was booming and we were involved in numerous deals. I might well have said property is a good investment but all investment can go wrong.

"The great recession of 2010 to 2015 caused catastrophe in the property and we were lucky to come out in 2016."