A TAXI driver paralysed in a serious road accident is still in hospital 19 months later.

But Barbara Osment - who suffered double heartache when her husband died while she was in still in intensive care - has been ready to go home for 11 months.

She is trapped in Blandford Community Hospital because her house has yet be converted for her new needs.

Barbara, 52, first hit the headlines in July when she went public on a dispute with the Church of England.

Her husband Percy, a gardener, had died of cancer while she was still very poorly and she wanted to mark his gravestone with a personal message and the image of a horse in the churchyard he had tended for years.

Although there has been some movement, the issue is still unresolved. And now she faces her second Christmas in hospital because she lost the use of her legs in the accident and work on her home in the tiny village of Farnham has still not begun.

"I just want to go home, I'm just so fed up," she said. "Why haven't they got on with it?

"It's just ridiculous, it really is - it's just killing me now. I want to get home to face things. I haven't dealt with my husband's death yet."

North Dorset District Council general manager Joyce Guest said Anchor Housing Association was managing the project.

"We give the grant money of £20,000 which shows you the amount of alterations needed," she said. "We have put everything in place - the money is available."

A spokesman for Anchor Trust said Mrs Osment's house was a Grade II listed building and swapping ownership of a piece of land to provide access had also complicated matters, as had drainage issues.

"This has proved to be one of the most complex cases we have dealt with," he said. "We are working closely with North Dorset District Council.

"We have overcome the major hurdles. We sympathise with Mrs Osment and hope the fact that we have now put the work out to tender will be seen as a major breakthrough."

He added that he hoped Mrs Osment would go home in the New Year.

First published: October 22