Staffordshire Police officer: How I'm rebuilding my life after losing an eye in shooting

These are the words of police officer Sergeant Jon King as he recovers from being shot twice in the face while on duty in Staffordshire.

Sgt King has had a temporary acrylic cover fitted to the right eye he lost after he was blinded in last October's shooting.

The officer, who was on duty in Rugeley when he was blinded in one eye, now hopes to be fitted for a prosthetic eye in the next few months.

The 48 year old, who has 26 years service with the police force, was shot twice in the face at close range after he and his colleagues were called to help paramedics at a house in Wat Tyler Close on October 19, 2014.

A 34-year-old man was later detained under the Mental Health Act and taken to a psychiatric unit for treatment.

Sgt King, who lives in Cannock, visited Good Hope Hospital for the recent fitting and has also had an operation on his tear duct, which stopped working properly after the attack.

He has documented his journey to recovery in a video diary which is being posted on YouTube. Last month, the father-of-four had his right eye taken out and a plastic insert put in.

This was attached to muscles in the back of his eye socket.

"I've just had a temporary cover put on. It's like a thick contact lens with an eye painted on it made out of acrylic.

"In about six to eight weeks they will make a mould of my eye socket. That gets sent to Blackpool and a couple of weeks later I have to come back for a fitting."

He said the surgery on his tear duct involved putting a tiny tube in his eye socket which will be removed in a month's time to leave a hole.

"Hopefully, that will make it work as a tear duct again," he said.

Sgt King said the operations had made a 'massive difference' adding: "The people at work have been great. They are telling me to take my time and recover."

After last October's shooting, Sgt King was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, before being transferred to the Birmingham Midland Eye Centre the following morning.

He had surgery on his eye and spent around a week on bed rest.

Sgt King is the second serving police officer in his family to be shot – his brother Geoff King was shot while working in Wolverhampton in 2006.