This is the moment fund-raiser Clare Forbes faced her fears and plunged 13,000ft.

The photos were taken by Clare's stepfather Eiffie Verboot as the 22-year-old leapt from a plane and parachuted to the ground.

Both Clare's legs were amputated from below the knee after contracted meningitis in 2001 and she has spent the last few years campaigning to raise £1 million for meningitis and disabled charities.

She has already walked two marathons but has been told by doctors to avoid them for now because some of her bone is growing back.

Clare, who lives in Crawley, has now turned her attentions to other forms of fund-raising.

The parachute jump was done with the help of members of the Army Parachute Association at Netherhaven in Wiltshire.

Clare said: "I was really scared before I did the jump, especially when I was going up in the plane. But once I did it, I really enjoyed it.

"It was a great feeling and now I'm planning to do another one."

Clare's mother, Karen, and stepfather looked on as she jumped from the plane.

Mr Verboot said: "She is a real inspiration and fully intends to go up again."

Clare did the jump in tandem with an Army expert and had to have her prosthetic legs removed beforehand. When they approached the ground Clare's partner took the brunt of the landing and Clare landed on top of him.

Clare hopes to have raised hundreds of pounds for the Douglas Bader Foundation, named after the wartime fighter pilot who lost his legs in an air crash.

Clare was named Achiever of the Year at The Argus Achievement Awards last month.