BRAVE Ben Sheppard has left hospital for the first time after the crash which killed his sister.

Ben, whose seventh birthday is on October 31, suffered spinal injuries in the car accident on the A350 at West Ashton. His sister Tamara-Jayne, five, died.

Ben's parents are overjoyed that doctors have allowed Ben home to Compton Bassett at weekends.

He has also been welcomed by other children in the village.

Mrs Sheppard said: "They took it in turns pushing him in his wheelchair. I don't know where they took him, but when they brought him back he was plastered in mud and as happy as could be."

Ben is being treated at the spinal unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire.