JONATHON Phipps has spoken of his mental breakdown after the accident.

He vividly remembers picking up the starting pistol from a cabinet of guns before it discharged into his hand.

"I flicked the trigger and then I felt something warm, like a tingle," he said.

"Then I looked down at my hand and all I saw was blood, my skin was ragged and hanging off and my bone was sticking out."

He added: "I will never play music again to a standard that would please myself and please audiences and it has left me absolutely distraught.

"I have had a mental breakdown. I couldn't cope with the feelings of anger inside."

Growing up in Stourport, he played violin in the county's youth orchestras and then for the orchestra at the University of Manchester where he later obtained a teaching certificate.

After around six years of school life he changed careers and toured folk clubs throughout the country.

He then headed to Paris and the south of France where, for 16 years, he forged a musical career.

In 1996 he settled in Kidderminster, creating a workshop to make and sell violins, but found the market was too erratic to earn a steady income.

He returned to performing and had been set to return to France before the accident.