A dying cancer patient has won a High Court battle for access to a drug that could prolong his life by three years.

Doctors at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton told Colin Ross he may not survive beyond the autumn unless the NHS paid for his treatment.

Last week a judge overruled the decision by West Sussex Primary Care Trust that the Revlimid drug would not be cost-effective.

Mr Ross, 55, had multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the blood cells, diagnosed in May 2004 but was twice denied the £30,000-a-year chemotherapy.

His case renewed controversy over the “postcode lottery” in which the availability of NHS care hinges on where a patient lives.

The former engineer said he would have been given Revlimid if he lived just a few miles away. A fellow patient at the Royal Marsden, in Sutton, had obtained funding for the drug.

Mr Ross, of Horsham, was too ill to attend court but his solicitor, Yogi Amin, said: “He is extremely delighted. He has got everything he fought for - he just hopes it is not all too late.

“Mr Ross’s case demonstrates the devastating effect that the postcode lottery can have on people’s lives, but he is overjoyed that he has won his right to live.”

Judge Grenfell, sitting in London, ruled that the trust’s decision “was one which no reasonable authority could have made on the application before it. It follows that the decision must be quashed”.

Revlimid has still to be granted approval by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) and is provided only in exceptional circumstances. West Sussex PCT said it accepted the judge’s interim ruling.