An elderly man who was injured when he fell over outside Rochester Cathedral has lost more than £21,000 compensation after an appeal against the court award.

Leonard Debell, who will be 79 on Christmas Day, fell as he was walking through the cathedral grounds in June 2010 and suffered a hernia and a nasty shoulder injury.

The retired engineer, of King George Road, Chatham, had tripped on a concrete block jutting up above road level and the cathedral was ordered to pay him £21,597 by a judge last year.

He has now been stripped of that payout after a landmark Appeal Court ruling on Wednesday.

Lord Justice Elias, one of two Appeal Court judges assigned to the hearing, said the “blemish” in the footpath used by Mr Debell to reach Rochester town centre posed an “everyday risk that pedestrians inevitably face” and did not amount to “a real source of danger”.

He added: “This was a most unfortunate accident but not one for which the cathedral should be liable.”

Speaking after the hearing, Mr Debell accused the judges of bias towards Rochester Cathedral and claimed that money had won out over real justice.

“My immediate reaction to the decision is one of disappointment,” he said. “The thing that goes through my mind is that you get the justice you can afford.

"The Church is big business and I am not. I have got a limited resource and they are one of the richest organisations in the UK.

“If this ruling is going to be used for further cases then I think it’s a very sad ending.

Mr Debell’s lawyer, David Pittaway QC, described the pathway his client was using as “narrower than a rugby prop’s shoulders in width”.

It was located between a low wall and a metal bollard, which had been erected by the cathedral in a bid to prevent unwanted car parking.

The lump of concrete he caught his foot on, said to be about 25mm in size, had been knocked off the vertical when hit by an untraced negligent driver.

Last year’s ruling by Judge Simon Coltart found the cathedral to be 80% responsible for Mr Debell’s injuries, saying that people cannot be expected to be looking where they are putting their feet on all occasions.

Cathedral lawyer Ronald Walker QC said the judge was creating a dangerous precedent for future cases.

He also pointed out that about 10,000 people had walked the same way as Mr Debell without mishap in the month of the accident alone.

Upholding the cathedral’s appeal last week, Lord Justice Elias said Mr Debell’s accident was foreseeable and not “a fantastic possibility”.

“This was an extremely small piece of concrete which could not be said to pose a real danger to pedestrians.

“It would be very unlikely that a pedestrian would walk so close to the bollard, or that he would injure himself if he did.”

Speaking after the hearing, Phil Hesketh, Dean of Rochester Cathedral, said: “We are very sorry that Mr Debell was hurt whilst visiting Rochester High Street.

“Many cathedrals and other places of historic interest will be relieved by this judgement.

“We hope people will continue to visit Rochester and enjoy all it has to offer.”