A retired Dover man who says a botched NHS hernia operation led to his guts exploding like “a volcano” has launched a High Court compensation claim.

Dennis Stacey, 69, of Priory Hill, says that after surgery at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford in February 2008, the operation site became infected and swelled as he lay in bed one night.

It eventually burst and showered the walls and carpet of his and his wife’s bedroom with blood, London’s High Court was told.

In the witness box, Mr Stacey told the judge: “I have been left in a terrible state and it can’t be fixed.

“I’ve got a hole in my stomach and I can’t even see it because it is underneath,” he added.

The eruption, which included faeces, was so horrific that an ambulance crew and paramedics all vomited on arriving at Mr Stacey’s home, his barrister Adam Wagner stated in court documents.

Mr Stacey, an animal lover and retired long-distance lorry driver, claimed negligence by medical staff who carried out the operation and monitored him post-op led to the infection.

His lawyers say he has been left with a permanent hole in his abdomen which prevents him from doing physical work, including DIY and gardening.

"I have been left in a terrible state and it can’t be fixed..." - Dennis Stacey

He sued East Kent Hospitals University NHS Trust which admitted liability for his injuries in 2012, Mr Stacey’s lawyers said outside court on Monday.

The Trust disputes the sum due to him and now Judge John Reddihough is being asked to decide.

Mr Wagner said his guts “distended like a volcano” before they “suddenly erupted” as he lay in bed.

“Faeces and blood exploded from a small hole in his abdomen with such force that it hit the walls and carpet.

“It continued to pump out until the bedroom walls were dripping with faeces,” he said.

Mr Stacey’s lawyers claimed he was not properly warned of the risks of the hernia repair, adding he shouldn’t have undergone the procedure as he was morbidly obese at the time.

But surveillance video showed Mr Stacey carrying a child while walking in the street. He also bent and carried shopping.

Mr Wagner denied that the footage undermined his case, saying it was his retirement dream to be self sufficient, keeping animals and growing produce on a smallholding, which has been dashed.

“I won’t be able to cope with any of that,” he said.

Mr Stacey says he will need to move to a bungalow, with a field for his two ponies, because he can’t manage the stairs.