Blinded soldier conquers Kilimanjaro

A Black Country hero soldier blinded by a Taliban bomb has scaled new heights after successfully climbing one of the world's tallest mountains.

Rifleman Paul Jacobs, aged 22, who served in 2nd Battalion The Rifles, lost his sight when a bomb detonated as he was serving in Afghanistan in 2009.

He was given the George Cross for his "faultless courage, selflessness and dedication to his unit" after helping to evacuate his comrades from the danger zone despite his injuries.

And he has refused to let his blindness hold him back — a determination which has seen him now climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise thousands of pounds for charity.

Rfn Jacobs, who now lives in Stourbridge with fiancée Louise Smith, aged 24, completed the final hour of his ascent on his hands and knees due to the lack of oxygen near the peak but refused to give in.

"It was like someone was sitting on my chest. Nothing prepared me for the lack of oxygen," he said.

"I needed the porters to help me get there but I was determined to make it.

"When I finally got there I was too tired to feel jubilant. I just wanted to sleep. It wasn't until I was on the plane on the way back I got a real sense of achievement."

Rfn Jacobs is aiming to raise £8,000 for St Dunstan's, a charity which helps blind and partially sighted ex-servicemen and women to live independently.

He has so far raised around £2,500 and says climbing the mountain is only the start of what he wants to do.

The soldier plans to become the first blind person to swim the English Channel and is also planning a parachute jump and to do the Great North Run.

He added: "The charity has been a lifeline for me and this is my way of giving them something back."

Rfn Jacobs met his fiancée at Selly Oak Hospital, in Birmingham, where she is a military ward health care assistant.

He thanked her father, Peter, aged 49, who completed the climb alongside him.