The High Court has ordered the Victims' Payments Board to reassess applications from Peter McCabe and his daughter Jeanitta Larkin after the pair were refused payments under the Troubles Permanent Disability Payment Scheme.

Mr McCabe was shot in the leg at his home in Newry in September 1990 by masked men who said they were from the IRA. A second shot was fired at him but struck a typewriter he used as a shield. The family left Northern Ireland for five years after the attack.

Jeanitta Larkin, who was 10 at the time, applied for support for the trauma she experienced. Both applications were rejected on the grounds that the incident did not meet the scheme's definition of a Troubles-related incident.

Mr Justice Scoffield found that the Board had made a legal error by seeking a single motivation for the attack and by applying guidance that treated certain paramilitary-style shootings as automatically ineligible.

The judge directed that the applications be returned to an appeal panel for fresh consideration. He noted that Mr McCabe's criminal record may also require separate assessment under scheme rules.

Jeanitta Larkin said the family was relieved by the outcome and hoped the ruling would encourage others to challenge similar decisions.

Setanta Marley of KRW Law, who represented the family, said the applicants had been vindicated and that the judgment could affect hundreds of other cases.