COMIC Jim Davidson has wished Bosnian four-year-old Stefan Savic luck with his operation and urged Echo readers to keep sending in their money.

Jim handed a cheque for £1,000 to Weymouth soldier Wayne Ingram to go towards the cost of life-changing surgery for Stefan, who has a large lump between his eyes and no nose.

Jim, a popular stage and television star whose charity The British Forces Foundation entertains and raises funds for British servicemen and their families, said: "Once I saw Stefan in the Echo I realised what a shame it was that these things happen.

"It's typical of a British soldier to take it on himself to do something the authorities have failed to. The British Army is unique in that way and it didn't surprise me at all that Wayne had picked up the cause for this kid. I wish Stefan and Wayne luck and hope everyone continues to support them."

The Echo's deputy editor Cliff Moore also handed Wayne money that had been sent in by Echo readers - a total of just under £6,000 - and Asda staff presented a cheque for £2,400 from a week of fundraising.

Stefan's surgery is due to take place at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital in October and he travelled to England with his mother Slavenka and aunt Dzejna Milakovid last month for tests.

While in the country Stefan visited Weymouth to stay with Wayne, of Nightingale Drive, who met Stefan in Bosnia and started fundraising to enable him to have the operation.

Wayne and his colleagues in the 9th/12th Royal Lancers raised more than £14,000 in Bosnia for the £24,000 operation but on their return to England still needed to find £10,000.

That figure has now been smashed with more than half of it being found by kindhearted Echo readers.

Wayne said: "I can't believe £10,000 has been raised in four weeks. It took four months in Bosnia to raise £14,000.

"I can't thank the local community enough and Jim Davidson for his contribution - everyone's really got behind us.

"We couldn't have done it without the help of the Echo and I'm really grateful to them. I've been reading the letters that came with some of the donations and it's made me proud to live in Weymouth." Wayne added that despite the £10,000 target being reached, more help was needed.

He said: "It's true that we've reached the money needed for Stefan's operation but there are other costs to take into account that keep building up.

"He needs money for flights to get to London in October and accommodation once he's here.

Hopefully after the operation we'll be able to bring him back to Weymouth because he had such a great time when he visited last month."

Wayne said complications had been added to Stefan's operation as he has found out he'll have to have all but eight of his teeth removed.

He said: "Because of the diet that's available to Stefan in Bosnia he can't get the nutrients he needs so his teeth are going bad.

"That means that before the operation he's going to have to have nearly all his teeth out.

"He's having to go through so much for a four-year-old but it means a lot that so many people are supporting him."