A ROMSEY man is undergoing treatment at Salisbury District Hospital after losing one arm and both hands in a shredding machine.

Police and a team from the government's South-East England Heath and Safety Executive office are trying to discover how 59-year-old Kenneth Ransom fell into the device at Wrens Farm, in North Baddesley, last Friday lunchtime.

Mr Ransom's right arm was dismembered and his left arm badly injured in the horrific incident and he is likely to undergo plastic surgery.

His badly-shaken wife, Barbara, said she was too upset to talk about her husband's accident but did say on Tuesday afternoon: "He's doing as well as can be expected."

Police say Mr Ransom was working at Associated Polymer Resources light industrial premises off Castle Lane at the time.

Firefighters were called to free Mr Ransom, who was wedged in the device fitted with roller blades, which are used to shred old wheelie bins. It took fire crews more than an hour to release him

Mr Ransom was taken to Southampton General Hospital and detained with life-threatening injuries.

He was later transferred to the specialist plastic surgery unit at Salisbury District Hospital. A police spokesman said this week that Mr Ransom was in a "stable" but not critical condition.

A Health and Safety Executive spokesman confirmed both the police and the government agency were working together on what he described as a "specialist" investigation into the machinery involved in the incident.