30217A PENSIONER has regained his sight after more than a year of blindness. John Jones, 74, of Queensway, Warminster, had been certified blind.

But last Monday he woke to find his sight had miraculously returned, and he has been on cloud nine ever since.

Mr Jones said: "When I woke up on Monday morning I really thought I must be dreaming.

"I had to touch everything to make sure I was awake, I even pinched myself to check.

"I have never really watched the television before so I just watched everything, adverts, the news, all of it."

Mr Jones has had problems with his eyesight since a freak accident in India over 60 years ago.

An oil drum exploded as he was walking past and he couldn't see for five years.

The sight in his right eye never returned and he was partially blind in his left eye.

In January last year his condition worsened when his left eye became infected and he was left totally blind.

On January 27 Dr Richard Collyer-Powell from Salisbury District Hospital certified Mr Jones was fully blind and had been so for more than a year.

Mysteriously, his sight returned without warning.

He said: "I've got absolutely no idea what caused it, but I'm going to see my doctor to try and find out. I know he will be just as thrilled as I am.

"Now that I can see again, there is so much I'm going to do.

"We've just had some plants delivered and I am really looking forward to seeing them grow.

"It really does feel like a miracle and as though I have been reborn.

"My doctor told me I could always be blind but I'm a fighter and I come from a long line of fighters so I never gave up hope.

"I go to church at St John's in Warminster every Sunday and the bread and the wine used to be brought down to me in my pew, which was very hard.

"But now it is just fabulous, I can see everything in so much detail.

"I am a carpenter and I now know I don't have to give up my work or lose my tools."

Talking about the childhood accident in India, Mr Jones said: "I took the brunt of it in my eyes and was rushed to military hospital.

"Because of the injuries I was blind for five and half years and was told I could have died.

"I have always been told this caused all the problems with my eyes.

"But now I can start living my life again."