A man paralysed from the waist down after his spinal cord was sliced in half in a stabbing attack is able to walk again thanks to cells transplanted from his NOSE.

Darek Fidyka, 38, is believed to be the first person in the world to recover from complete severing of the spinal nerves.

The Bulgarian - who suffered his injury in 2010 - can now walk with a frame and has been able to resume an independent life, even to the extent of driving a car.

Sensation has returned to his lower limbs.

Surgeons used nerve-supporting cells from Darek's nose to provide pathways along which the broken tissue was able to grow.

Despite success in the laboratory, it is the first time the procedure has been shown to work in a human patient.

Professor Geoffrey Raisman, whose team at University College London's Institute of Neurology discovered the technique, said: "We believe that this procedure is the breakthrough which, as it is further developed, will result in a historic change in the currently hopeless outlook for people disabled by spinal cord injury."

The research, funded by the Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation (NSIF) and the UK Stem Cell Foundation, is featured in a special Panorama programme on BBC One tonight.

A Polish team led by one of the world's top spinal repair experts, Dr Pawel Tabakow, from Wroclaw Medical University, performed the surgery.

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Paralysed man able to walk again thanks to cells transplanted from his NOSE