A FITNESS fanatic has told how he thought he was going to die after an attacker slashed the side of his face open in a knife attack.

Matthew Brown, 34, needed 40 stitches in the wound from halfway up his ear down to his throat and is likely to be scarred for life.

A man arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm with intent in the incident in Williton has been released on police bail.

Somerset County Gazette:

Mr Brown said he came face to face with his attacker on the corner of White Croft and North Croft.

“He’s had a go at me before and is much bigger than me,” said Mr Brown, of Eastway, Watchet.

“He swung at me, so I stuck out my leg, pushed him over and had him on the ground in a rugby hold when his phone went off.

“I let him go to answer it and he went into his pocket with his hand.

“I thought he was getting his phone, but I saw his hand come towards me.

“I turned my head and saw what looked like a zip come up and blood all over my coat.”

Mr Brown, a former heroin addict who turned his life round by taking up exercise, staggered up the road to the house of a friend, who called the emergency services.

He added: “She got a towel and pressed it against my neck until the ambulance arrived.

“When the paramedic arrived, I asked him, ‘Am I going to live?’ All he would say is, ‘I’m going to do my best’.

"I was worried I was going to die.”

Mr Brown, who came to the area after his fiancée was killed in Florida, said he passed out for a while.

He was rushed to Musgrove Park Hospital, in Taunton, where he was kept in over night after medical staff inserted stitches into his 12 inch wound.

An Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said: “A 49-year-old man from the Taunton area has been arrested on suspicion of causing GBH with intent following a serious assault in Williton at approximately 4.30pm on Wednesday, October 21.

“The man has been released on police bail pending further enquiries.

“Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call 101 quoting reference 5215024251.”