A WINSLEY man is ‘lucky to be alive’ after suffering serious injuries when he was charged by a cow as he walked along a public footpath.

Self-employed metal engineer David Billington, 47, was left with two broken vertebrae in his neck and a severe leg injury after the incident, which occurred while he was walking home from The Cross Guns in Avoncliff in the early evening of October 19.

Mr Billington was making his way along the footpath through a field between the Avoncliff aqueduct and Winsley Cricket Club, leading up to Green Lane in Turleigh, when he was knocked to the ground by a cow and trampled on. He suffered injuries to the head, neck and legs which left him unconscious in the field for more than an hour-and-a-half.

When he regained consciousness Mr Billington managed to pull himself to his feet and stagger to a house in Green Lane, where people helped him and dialled 999.

Mr Billington’s sister Cathy Hough, 45, who lives in Surrey, said: “David is very lucky to be alive and the incident has left him with very serious injuries. Everyone has praised how courageous he was to drag himself to his feet after the attack, and get up the hill and to a house for help.”

Mr Billington was rushed to the Royal United Hospital, Bath where he was treated in intensive care before being transferred to the serious trauma unit.

Due to the nature of his neck injuries Mr Billington will need to wear a Halo Brace l From front page for 12 weeks and will also need a skin graft on his left calf. Mrs Hough said: “It is going to be a really long recovery for him, he’ll be in the brace until at least January and then he’ll require at least one operation on his leg. He’s doing well mentally and he’s being quite positive. I’d like to say thank you to the people who came to David’s rescue initially and took him in.” It is thought the cow attacked Mr Billington believing its calf was under threat. Mrs Hough said: “This is a route David takes frequently and he’d never thought anything like this would happen. “He has said to me he’d like to warn people who take that commuter path to be fully aware of the dangers and how unpredictable cows can be. “We wouldn’t like to see this happen to anyone else and there needs to be extra safety measures put in place.” Farmer Brian Godwin, of Timothy Rise Farm in Winsley Hill, is aware of the incident but declined to comment. Painter and decorator Simon Dark, 43, suffered head injuries and a fractured collarbone when he too was attacked by a herd of cows while walking his dog on the same farmland three years ago. John Oliver, spokesman for Great Western Ambulance Service, said: “This type of incident is quite rare, I’m aware of four or five cases over my time with GWAS, but my general advice to anyone walking at night would be to take care and consider all possible dangers.”