He used to be in the Army, loved playing football and going out with his friends and had his life ahead of him.

But a few seconds of thrill-seeking has shattered that life and left his doting family devastated.

Sonny, 20, of Woodsedge, Waterlooville, will be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life after jumping off South Parade Pier in Southsea and breaking his neck.

Sonny's family wanted the shocking picture of their son lying in hospital to be published in a bid to stop people 'tombstoning'.

His dad Robert Wells, 44, told The News of the agonising moment he had to tell his son he was paralysed.

Mr Wells, of Liddiards Way, Purbrook, said: 'He asked me "am I paralysed?"

'I said: "You are in a hospital bed. What do you think?"

'He replied "I think I am paralysed".'

Sonny, who was football-mad and had been selected for Portsmouth FC's youth academy as a teenager, was enjoying the sun on Sunday with his friends on Southsea seafront.

He had just visited the family restaurant Nemrut, in Albert Road, which is owned by Sonny's mum Jacqui Unal, 42, who is separated from Mr Wells.

In a flurry of excitement the 20-year-old ran on to the pier, ripped his shirt off and plunged 30ft into just three feet of seawater.

It was a jump he had done before.

This time, however, rather than resurfacing smiling to the cheers and claps of his friends, he had to be dragged from the water unconscious and airlifted by helicopter to Southampton General Neurological Unit, where his family have been keeping a round-the-clock vigil.

Mrs Unal said: 'I want people to see what he is like in hospital – to save a life. If it saves just one life, then it will have been worth it.

'For that sheer moment of pleasure my son has lost his life. It's really not worth it.'

Sonny cannot remember anything about the jump, only the moment he was floating in the water and trying to breathe before he fell unconscious.

Mrs Unal said her son was an extremely active and athletic young man, who had been in the Army for two years in the King's Royal Hussars.

For the last year he was saving up money working night shifts at the cosmetics factory Whitman Laboratories, in Petersfield.

When not working he was an avid football player and over the years played for local teams Widbrook United, Hurstwood and Ramsdale.

He was due to move to Nottingham next week to start work as a painter and decorator for his uncle's firm.

His grandma Joan Wells, 77, of Perseus Place, Waterlooville, said: 'He's a really gutsy lad.