A butcher who got stuck in a freezer owes his life to black pudding after he used a block of the blood sausage "like a battering ram" to free himself.

Chris McCabe, 70, said he thought he was going to die when he got locked inside his own walk-in freezer, which stores meat at temperatures of -20C.

With time running out in the freezer, which it is believed could lead to the death of someone trapped inside within 30 minutes, he grabbed the only tool he could find.

He battered the lock with the frozen stick of black pudding, with it eventually giving way and Mr McCabe walked free.

Mr McCabe, a father of four from Totnes, Devon, said: "Black pudding saved my life, without a doubt. No one could hear me banging because it is outside, round the back of the shop.