A QUADRUPLE heart bypass and knee replacement operation were not enough to stop Spain's only British matador entering the ring once more.

Salford bullfighter Frank Evans stepped out of retirement to mark the eve of his 66th birthday with a comeback victory - claiming the severed ears of his horned opponent and the affection of the crowd at the hillside village of Villanueva de Concepcion where he fought.

Mr Evans, a grandfather who began his career more than four decades ago - practising in his local Salford park on a shopping trolley adorned with a pair of horns - hung up his red cape three years ago as arthritis in his knee joint made it impossible for him to continue.

But as he told the M.E.N. three years ago, he was determined to have a miracle operation that would allow him 'one last fight'.

Known as 'El Ingles' - `The Englishman' - Mr Evans completed a 20 minute performance in the small ring, in the hills above Malaga, by driving his sword into the 700 lb black bull's neck as the 600-strong crowd cheered 'Ole' and waved white handkerchiefs. He is understood to be the only bullfighter in history to have performed with a titanium knee.

Mr Evans, the son of a butcher and a former winger with Sale rugby union club, was the first Englishman to earn the accolade of Matador de Toros - meaning he could fight and kill animals weighing more than 1,300lbs as opposed to novices who fight younger, smaller animals.

Inspired by a book written by the first English matador, Vincent Hitchcock, he headed to Spain in the 1960s where he joined a bullfighting school in Valencia and fought his first fight as a 20-year-old. He became a fully-fledged matador in 1991.

Although he has never made it to top-flight arenas, his farewell fight in 2005 saw him carried from the arena on the shoulders of the celebratory crowd.

But he said that deep down he never wanted to leave.

He said after yesterday's fight: "It felt fantastic. It is where I am happiest."

El Ingles splits his time between his house in Worsley and an apartment in Marbella, in Southern Spain. It is understood that he now plans to fight in Ecuador, Columbia and Peru allowing him to fulfil a lifetime ambition to compete in every country that kills bulls in the ring.

But animal cruelty campaigners have slammed the pensioner's perseverance.

Tony Moore, chairman of north west-based Fight Against Animal Cruelty in Europe (FAACE), said: "It sickens me that anyone would want to do this and I've met Frank and told him so. I understand he had a dream but he is perpetuating the torture of innocent animals.

"We should be encouraging an end to bullfighting not welcoming people out of retirement to continue the cruelty."