A British soldier who lost both legs and his testicles in a Taliban bomb blast has spoken of his joy at welcoming a miracle baby thanks to pioneering medical techniques.

Fusilier Shaun Stocker was left blinded and clinging to life after he was caught up in a roadside bomb while serving in Afghanistans Helmand province six years ago.

Doctors who saved him also managed to retrieve and freeze a sample of his sperm from deep inside his testes allowing him to become a father to a son on Christmas Day.

Mr Stocker, 25, hailed medics as he described his new child, named Theo, as the son I never thought I'd be able to have.

I figured my chances of having children had gone, he told the Mail on Sunday newspaper as he hailed his Christmas miracle baby.

Mr Stocker said he had come round from a coma after the blast expecting that his chances of having children were lost forever after he was caught up in the attack while serving with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, the Royal Welsh Regiment.

But medics led by Dr Jackson Kirkman-Brown had been able to take a sample of his sperm from deep inside his body and freeze it within 48 hours of the accident, giving him a chance of becoming a father.

He later met Persia Haghighi, who is now his fiancee, and become one of the first servicemen to use sperm saved in this way to conceive their child.

Mr Stocker and his fiancee have given their son the middle named of Jackson in tribute to the doctor who made their child possible.

And they are planning to go through another round of IVF to have more children in future.

"'Theo is the son I never thought I'd be able to have and it is all because of the brilliance of Dr Jackson Kirkman-Brown," Mr Stockman told the newspaper. "For me personally, Theo's arrival marks the conclusion of my rehabilitation."