SERIOUSLY injured trainee priest John Paul Lyttle has been described as ‘a brilliant man’ by a man who helped in his training.

The 28-year-old fell 20ft from a window onto a concrete patio in London early on Monday.

A friend of his family, who are at his bedside, said they did not want to say anything and asked for privacy.

The former Notre Dame Primary School pupil is being treated for severe head and back injuries.

He is understood to have been in an induced coma since surgery on Monday.

Mr Lyttle, a former St Joseph’s altar boy, had rejoined his training for the Catholic priesthood just last week.

He entered the St Joseph’s seminary in Belfast in 1999 and spent time at the Ards Friary in County Donegal before moving to London.

‘We are all absolutely devastated because he is an absolutely wonderful man. He is in our prayers, everybody is gutted,’ said Benito Colangelo, the manager at the friary.

‘The man is so talented and is willing to give everything for Christ. I was only texting him on Sunday to try and get him to come back here to help us out again. He was good with people, very educated and academic,’ he said.