Injured para 'proud' of torch relay

Seriously-injured paratrooper Ben Parkinson was greeted like a rock star when he carried the Olympic Torch with thousands of people willing him on.

Every step Lance Bombardier Parkinson took with the flame in his home town of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, was cheered by the crowds which lined the 300m route.

The soldier, who is considered the most seriously-wounded soldier to survive the war in Afghanistan, was mobbed as he turned up for his 300m leg with the flame near the town centre.

People clamoured to have their photos taken with the 27-year-old and shake his hand.

Police had to hold back the crowds as he got out of his wheelchair to take over the torch close to the town's war memorial.

Using his prosthetic legs, he carefully walked his section of the relay supported by his physio - Robert "Shep" Shepherd - and was urged on by people ten deep on either side of the road.

In some of the most emotional scenes of the torch relay so far, the para walked even further than the distance he had been practising as hundreds of people shouted his name.

L/Bdr Parkinson finished the stretch in about 26 minutes and, after he handed the torch over to the next runner, he was inundated by well-wishers again.

"I am so proud," he said.

"I didn't realise how much support I had. I was amazed."