A NORTH Yorkshire man who sparked a large-scale search operation after slashing himself with a Stanley knife has thanked emergency services, medics and his friends for saving his life.

Garry Steele said he had lost two pints of blood when police found him in Catterick Village, almost two hours after he had posted photos of his horrific foot-long forearm injury on Facebook in a cry for help in the early hours of Saturday.

The 52-year-old said he remained at a loss as to why he had self-harmed following an enjoyable evening at a friend's house, but had been so shocked by his blood loss that he alerted friends on social media before running for four miles from his remote home in the Richmond area.

Recovering at home from the deep wound, Mr Steele said: "I had been drinking - something I will never do again - and feeling a bit low, something made me do it.

"I have self-harmed for many years, but never anything as serious as this, so it really shook me up.

"While blood was streaming from my arm I tried phoning people, but couldn't raise anyone, so I left home and started running and running.

"I had to keep stopping as I felt so weak and at one point I collapsed, so I feel lucky to be alive."

Mr Steele's friends issued an alert to the emergency services, who launched an helicopter and extensive ground search for him shortly after 1am.

He said: "It took me about two hours to cover the four miles from my home to Catterick, where police found me shortly before 3am.

"I was taken to the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, where I had 19 stitches in the wound and 16 staples on the outside."

Mr Steele, who has never been able to work due to his debilitating mental health condition, said he bitterly regretted taking up the emergency services and medics' time and wanted to thank them for their efforts in tracking him down and saving his life.

He said he was having difficulties accessing mental health services, but was determined not to self-harm again and continue seeking help.

A North Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: "We are glad we could be of help to someone in a crisis situation.

"That is what we are here to do and we will always do everything we possibly can to keep the public safe, no matter what time of the day or night."