THE delighted family of an injured ex-serviceman has found a new home after being featured in the Daily Echo.

Sgt Eddie Stalker was living in a cold, damp Bournemouth flat.

He spent 20 years in the Royal Logistical Corps and felt let down when told it might take 10 years to get a council house.

Bournemouth War Memorial Homes offered to help and handed Eddie the keys to a refurbished three-bedroom house.

Sgt Stalker, 37, has a numb chest after being injured by a mortar blast in Afghanistan and has back pain from carrying equipment in the Bosnian war.

He moved in with partner Linda and her daughter and said: “Crikey – it’s absolutely fantastic.

“It’s a completely different environment. My wheezing has started to clear up. I don’t know where we would be without them – probably homeless.”

His injuries – and the after effects of a bout of deep vein thrombosis – meant he could only manage limited work and was struggling to cover the private rent.

Bournemouth War Memorial Homes is a charity on Castle Lane West. It owns 51 properties for disabled ex-servicemen and it charges the most reasonable rents it can afford.

Peter Goodson, the estates manager, said: “I saw the article in the Echo and it seemed disgraceful that he was going to have to wait for so long.

“Our chairman drove to Eddie’s rather unpleasant, damp flat in Charminster, and said we would try and help.

“By strange coincidence we actually had a property we were refurbishing that was vacant.”

He said the estate has also been approached for help recently by four other young veterans.