91Èȱ¬

20 year-old Sonny from Waterlooville made the national headlines earlier this year when he was seriously injured after 'tombstoning' off South Parade Pier.

Sonny is a former soldier, who served for two years in the King's Royal Hussars. He isÌý football-mad and was selected for Portsmouth FC's youth academy when a teenager.

He was due to move to Nottingham the following week to start work as a painter and decorator for his uncle's firm

Sonny was with friends on Sunday 11 May – he admits he had a few drinks and just didn’t think.Ìý He jumped from the pier, but the water wasn’t deep enough for him.

Sonny is paralysed from the chest down

A couple of days after the accident the family released a picture of Sonny unconscious in his hospital bed as a warning to others.

His jump was captured on film and has been shown on You-tube.Ìý

Sonny’s family want his mistake to be highlighted to other young people so that they don’t do the same thing.Ìý

They want more posters in the area warning of the dangers of tombstoning – and they want the issue raised publicly to prevent others from jumping.

Sonny's father, Robbie is worried that the authorities and young people will soon forget about what happened to Sonny and things will go back to the way they were.

Family life has also been thrown into turmoil.

Robbie and his wife Karen were due to move to Cornwall very soon – Karen was going to give up work when they got there – but they have had to cancel all their plans.

Julian Clegg chatting to Sonny Wells

Karen said that within a week of Sonny’s accident, they had spent £400 more than they would have normally done, on things like food and parking etc.

Robbie says that, medically, Sonny is as well as he’s ever going to be.Ìý They both agree they have been lucky to have understanding employers as they had to take so much time off work.

Robbie works from home as a technical director for a tooling company but he has to travel a lot.

Sonny’s mother Jaqui Unal has spent time with Sonny, and her ex husband Robbie and his wife Karen.Ìý They say that from the tragedy of this accident some good has come, as the couple have been estranged for years and now have been looking after Sonny together.

After spending time in Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham, Sonny has just moved to a rehabilitation centre in Salisbury where he will start his recovery.