A paralysed woman has crossed the finish line of the London marathon after walking for 16 days with the help of an Israeli invention.

Claire Lomas, a former semi-professional British horse-rider, was told she would never walk again after an accident in May 2007.

But five years on she has proved her doubters wrong and raised more than £83,000 for spinal research.

She was able to enter the marathon and take on her 16 day march after discovering the ReWalk, a pair of motorised trousers created by Israeli entrepreneur Amit Goffer. Mr Goffer, whose creation costs £43,000, was paralysed in a car accident in 1997.

He came up with the ReWalk to enable paraplegics to walk and climb stairs with the aid of crutches.

The device, which involves sensor-triggered crutches that tilt the wearer's body so they can move forward, is the only one that would have given Ms Lomas mobility.

She told the JC that it reminded her of Wallace and Gromit's "wrong trousers".