County soldier hurt in bomb blast

The family of a Shropshire soldier is keeping a vigil at his bedside after he suffered horrific injuries in a roadside bomb explosion in Afghanistan.

Simon Vaughan, 24, a corporal attached to the Plymouth-based 29 Commandos, is in a critical condition at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham.

See also: 'Suicide' bomb kills county marine

Mr Vaughan, a father of one from Hodnet, suffered a shattered pelvis, broken jaw, broken femur, and bleeding on the brain, when the vehicle he was travelling in was driven over an unexploded bomb.

The attack which injured Mr Vaughan, who has a six-year-old son called Ben, happened last Saturday.

Today Mr Vaughan's mother Lynne, who also lives in Hodnet, said she, his wife Donna, and his brothers and sisters, were keeping a vigil at his bedside.

She said the soldier had not regained consciousness since the incident and the family is waiting to hear the long-term prognosis.

Miss Vaughan said his brother Matthew was trying to return to Hodnet from his home in Holland to see him, and his sister Natacha had not left his bedside.

She said: "They are all there for him. We are a close family. I'm hoping that he will be all right.

"We had Christmas dinner in September before he went because he was going to be away for Christmas and I got upset as his mum.

"He said remember if anything happens he was doing the job that he loved."

By Abigail Bates