An American smoker, Richard Boeken, has won $3 billion in damages after a US jury decided that the tobacco company, Philip Morris, was responsible for his cancer.

Boeken, aged 56, started smoking at 13 and got through two packets of Marlboro every day for 40 years. He argued that he did not become aware of health risks associated with smoking until the mid-1990s and the court found in his favour awarding $5.5 million in compensation and $3 billion in punitive damages against Philip Morris.

The tobacco giant - whose shares crashed at the news - was hit on six counts of fraud, negligence and making a defective product.