�A bright teenager who was in line to sit her GCSEs early but was left brain damaged after a car hit her in Ilford is suing the driver who has since died.

Joema Miguel was 15 when Peter Shorer’s Mitsubishi Spacestar ploughed into her at a pelican crossing in Ilford in January 2008.

Joema, now 18, was rushed to Queen’s Hospital in Romford in a deep coma with a very severe brain injury, and now suffers from spasms which need to be treated with Botox injections, and she is doubly incontinent.

Now through her uncle Antonio Pinto, Joema is suing the personal representatives of the late Peter Shorer, a renowned goldsmith who helped restore the Sutton Hoo helmet, over the accident at Winston Way in Ilford.

He is seeking unlimited damages of more than �300,000 for her.

The writ brands him negligent, and says he drove onto the pelican crossing against a red light, failed to give way, failed to see her, drove too fast, and failed to keep a proper look out.

Mr Shorer, who died two years after the crash in 2010, pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention at Barking Magistrates Court as a result of the accident in July 2009.

Joema attended Little Ilford School in Manor Park, and was due to sit nine GCSEs, taking French a year early.

But now, she communicates using her eyes, indicating yes with a long blink and no by staring ahead.

She has been left with severe cognitive defects but can understand short sentences, and she suffers from pain, discomfort, depression and frustration, as well as being fed through a tube. It is believed she will not make any further progress with her recovery.

A court date at the High Court in London for the hearing is to be set.