AN inspirational Worcester paratrooper who lost both legs and an arm in an explosion in Afghanistan has vowed to return to the front line.

Corporal Tom Neathway said he hoped to go back next year to complete his tour of duty.

He was five months into his posting when he was injured by a roadside booby trap in July 2008.

He was critically ill and spent weeks at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham before being moved to the defence medical rehabilitation centre at Headley Court.

Cpl Neathway, aged 26, said: “I’ve got unfinished business out there. I feel I’ve got to finish what I started.”

Cpl Neathway, of the Parachute Regiment, is back at work teaching parachuting but said he felt he had two months in Afghanistan still to do – the rest of the time he would have served had he not been injured.

He said: “That’s the type of job it is. We don’t want to be sat in the UK when our guys are out there. It sounds strange but I did enjoy it out there.

“It’s testing you.”

Since returning to the Army, Cpl Neathway, who now lives in a village near Worcester, said he had been mono-skiing, skydiving, water-skiing and scuba diving around the world.

He said: “It’s finding that buzz which I had before.

“I can’t do my old job but I find other ways to get my adrenaline rush which is doing all these adventurous sports.”

The former Bishop Perowne pupil was among guests of honour at a service of remembrance at the school yesterday (Weds) to mark Armistice Day.

He told pupils he had been caught up in four explosions including one in an ambulance after he was injured but said it was just “bad luck”.

He said his time at the school had helped prepare him for his rehabilitation.

Afterwards, he described the service as very moving.

He said: “I’ve lost a lot of friends out there and it’s a way of us remembering them.

“Last year I was too ill to think about anyone apart from myself.

“This year, now I’m better, it’s given me time.

“Not a day goes by when we don’t think about them anyway but we do today of all days.”