'Dear Taliban, I forgive you': Father writes note to insurgents after his son is crippled by road-side bomb

Crippled: James Wilson from the Royal Engineers was on his first tour when he lost his legs last week

A father whose son had both his legs blown off by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan is penning a letter of forgiveness to the Taliban - 14 years after his older son was killed fighting in Bosnia.



Ian Wilson, who lost his son Stuart, 19, in 1997, is using an Army translator to write a message to insurgents to leave at the spot where his son James almost died.



Known as 'Jimmer' the Royal Engineers soldier, who was on his first tour, was trying to defuse the explosive when it blew up last week leaving him with life-changing injuries.

The 29-year-old was airlifted to Camp Bastion for emergency treatment before being flown back to Britain.



Remarkably, Mr Wilson said he has 'no axe to grind' with the Taliban, telling the Lymington Times: ' James was a natural-born soldier and loved his work.



'He knew what he was going into and I forgive them for what they have done.'

Sapper Wilson, from the New Forest town in Hampshire, is currently being treated at Birmingham's Selly Oak hospital after losing one leg below his right knee and the other above his left knee.



Mr Wilson said his mother and girlfriend, both called Sally, had been at his bedside comforting him and in the past few days he had opened his eyes.



Two members of the Taliban are armed in Afghanistan. Mr Wilson said he has 'no axe to grind' with insurgents and is penning a note of forgiveness

A former Territorial Army clerk and father-of-six Mr Wilson is pleased with his progress.



Sapper Wilson's brother Private Stuart Wilson who was killed in Bosnia in 1997

He praised his son's 'sharp mind' and is confident he will overcome the trauma.



The 56-year-old recalled how a shiver went down his spine when his son was blown up around 9am British time last Wednesday.

Mr Wilson told the newspaper: ' It was the weirdest feeling ever.

'I had just been to buy some locomotive parts in New Milton and,

honestly, all of a sudden a big shiver went right through me.'

However, the railway boss, who works at Exbury Gardens in the New Forest, said he went through 'far worse' when his older son died.



Private Wilson, a member of the Royal Logistics Corps, was killed when his 38-ton fuel tanker fell down a ravine trying to avoid a collision.



He had been saving the lives of nine civilians.

