Stunt woman who lost an arm in horrific accident while standing in for Milla Jovovich for Resident Evil motorbike scene sues for £2.2million after her career was destroyed
Olivia Jackson, 37, was asked to perform a motorbike stunt on set in South Africa
She smashed into a camera which did not lift fast enough as she sped forward
Half of Olivia's face was torn off and her left arm had to be amputated
She is seeking £2.2m in damages after her £220k a year career was taken away
By JAMIE PYATT FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 04:02 EST, 12 December 2018 | UPDATED: 06:09 EST, 12 December 2018
Stunt woman Olivia Jackson who suffered horrific injuries in a nightmare accident on the set of Resident Evil is suing for over £2.2m after her film career was destroyed.
Super-fit Olivia, 37, pulled off death defying stunts and starred as a body double for Hollywood's top actresses in films including Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy and Mad Max.
In 2015 while she was performing a motorcycle stunt on the set of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter in Johannesburg, South Africa, she nearly lost her life in a horror accident.
Unexpected rain caused a fight scene she was due to appear in to be cancelled and she was instead told to stand in for actress Milla Jovovich in a high speed motorcycle stunt.
Olivia Jackson, 37, in hospital before her withered left arm was amputated (left) and afterwards (right)
Olivia (pictured before her accident) is a former professional Thai kick-boxer and continues to live an extremely active lifestyle despite her disability
Olivia and her British stuntman husband David Grant (Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars, Captain America) are both keen motorcycle riders
Olivia was standing in for Milla Jovovich (pictured) while filming the latest Resident Evil movie in 2015
But the action shot went terribly wrong and she was thrown from her bike after a collision with a mechanical mobile film camera.
Her shocking list of injuries included having half her face torn off and having to have her left arm amputated and suffering serious brain swelling and severing a vital neck artery.
An X-ray of her body shows the catastrophic extent of her injuries which left the South African woman in a coma for 17 days fighting for her life
Olivia, married to a top British stunt man David Grant, was also left with a painfully twisted spine, a permanently dislocated shoulder, a severed thumb, punctured lungs and broken ribs.
The impact of the crash was so forceful that it broke dozens of her bones and was such that her left forearm was never found.
Three years on from the accident Olivia from Amersham, Buckinghamshire, has launched a legal fight in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, South Africa, for compensation for her injuries.
The stuntwoman had been tasked to ride a motorbike at high speed at a camera mounted on a mechanical arm on a Mercedes SUV which would be driving straight towards her.
The camera was to begin filming at ground level and then raise up and over Olivia's head as she drove the motorbike towards it for an action shot but it didn't raise up quickly enough.
Olivia, who was wearing a vest top, torn jacket and khaki jeans, was not required to wear a helmet for the stunt and the heavy camera slammed into her upper body and her face.
Three years on from the accident Olivia who lives in Amersham, Bucks, has launched a legal fight in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, for compensation
The terribly injured former professional Thai kick boxer spent 17 days in a coma and doctors feared the worst but said her strength and fitness eventually helped save her life.
When she began to recover she received flowers and support whilst in intensive care from actress Milla Jovovich who she was doubling the stunts for on the Resident Evil film set.
Actresses Charlize Theron, Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley and Karen Gillan who Olivia has also body doubled for in stunts sent huge bouquets of flowers and personal messages to her.
Olivia suffered a painfully twisted spine, a permanently dislocated shoulder, a severed thumb, punctured lungs and broken ribs, and her left arm could not be recovered (pictured after surgery)
Brave Olivia has catalogued her slow road to recovery on her own Instagram page but has had to come to terms with the fact that she will never work in the movie industry again.
Papers lodged at the Gauteng High Court show she is seeking more than R40million (£2.2m) in damages following the accident on a section of road near a dam at Pelindaba, Pretoria.
They show Olivia is suing the Road Accident Fund, the production and stunt company involved as well as the camera crane operator, the driver of the vehicle and the film director.
The paperwork states that when she was previously working in the UK she earned £20,000 a month and whilst working on the set of Resident Evil in South Africa was on £12,500 a month.
Cape Town born UK resident Olivia states that she has been rendered unemployable. The court case was adjourned and will be listed for a full hearing to take place next year.
Brave Olivia has catalogued her recovery from near death in moving Instagram posts on her personal account to fans.