LONDON bomb victim Paul Glennerster has spoken publicly for the first time of the horrific moment he realised his leg had been blown off.

Mr Glennerster, of Desborough Avenue, High Wycombe, has described the chilling moments in the King's Cross to Russell Square Tube train when the bomb went off leaving his leg hanging by a thread. Mr Glennerster, an insurance broker based in Holborn, London, was due to arrive into Holborn station following the stop at Russell Square.

Instead he found himself under a pile of bodies following the blast and was forced to pull himself up before making the shocking discovery. He said: "I realised straight away my leg was gone, it was still attached but it was swinging about to the left. I didn't know what had happened. They had to amputate it in hospital it was hanging by a few tendons."

Doctors were forced to carry out an amputation above Mr Glennerster's knee at St Thomas's Hospital, London.

Since leaving he has been staying with his parents in Stokenchurch.

He told Midweek he is now on the road to recovery. He will shortly undergo an operation for an eye injury he also sustained in the bombing. Mr Glennerster, 26, a former John Hampden Grammar School pupil, is undergoing physiotherapy and says he has already begun to walk and drive again with the help of his new artificial leg. But he says what actually caused his injury is still unknown. He said: "The surgeon thinks it was the blast itself because there is still an amount of damage around the leg consistent with a blast injury rather than a piece of debris."

Mr Glennerster made national headlines when a tube worker told how she had helped keep him awake during treatment from paramedics. He praised staff and paid tribute to those who have helped him recover, including family, friends, and team-mates from the Horse and Jockey pub football team in Tylers Green. Mr Glennerster was previously the captain for the side.

See this week's Free Press for more