"El Ingles" - or Frank Evans to his family and friends - hung up his cape three years ago because of an old injury, but on Sunday made a triumphant return at a charity bullfight in a village near Malaga, Spain.

Cheered on by villagers, the pensioner executed several passes and killed the 92Olb bull with a single sword thrust, earning him the top prize a matador can receive - the animal's severed ears.

"It was nice to get it out of the way and now I hope those who didn't think I could do it will ease off a bit," he told the media afterwards.

Brought up in Manchester, Mr Evans was inspired to become a bullfighter after reading about Britain's first matador, Vincent Hitchcock, as a teenager.

After studying at a bullfighting school in Valencia, his first fight came in 1966 and practice sessions at home saw him stabbing a bail of hay on a supermarket trolley.

"Now I am back I will never ever retire no matter what. I will simply fade away one day," he said.