A SOLDIER who needed emergency surgery after a pickaxe was lodged in his skull has taken his first steps.

Lance Corporal Konrad Bisping, 26, from Clitheroe, has been moved from hospital in Southampton to an army rehabilitation centre in Surrey where he is receiving constant care to help his recovery.

Although his vision is still blurred, he has been walking and receiving physiotherapy and counselling as he tries to recovery from the trauma.

His mother Kathleen, of Henthorn Close, Clitheroe, said: "We're absolutely delighted with the recovery he has made -- he's doing a lot better than the doctors ever expected but there's still a long way to go.

"Twice, just after the attack, we thought he was going to die but he's pulled through.

"He's been walking around but he needs someone at his shoulder all the time.

"The place is just wonderful and they are giving him all the care he needs.

"He's having problems with his vision and it's just a case of waiting to see what happens over the next six months or so and whether it will return to normal. The axe damaged part of the optic nerve in his brain.

"He's not quite himself yet but he is getting counselling to get over the shock but at least he's Konrad. He remembers his family and everything really apart from the attack."

The popular soldier suffered serious head wounds when leading a platoon of soldiers during manoeuvres with the 1st Battalion the Queens Lancashire Regiment on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, last month.

His wife Claire and family including Kathleen, and sisters Maxine, 18, and Shireen, 17, brothers Adam, 18, Michael, 22, and Stephen, 31, have all been down to visit.

Konrad has even made a visit to his home at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire where he and Claire, a medic in the army, live.

The doctors say Konrad could spend anything up to a year the Hedley Court rehab centre.

The family said they had been overwhelmed with messages of support from Konrad's friends in Clitheroe and the Army.

Staff and students at his former school St Augustine's RC High School have also prayed for him at a special assembly.

A 17-year-old private from Blackburn has appeared before a youth court in Chippenham, Wiltshire, charged with attempted murder.