RAF commander Group Captain John Wariner is trying to find two Good Samaritans who came to his aid after he fell and broke his leg while out on a run.

The 48-year-old, who lives in Chippenham, was running in Castle Combe on Saturday when he slipped and fell in the freezing mud, finding himself in agony and unable to walk unaided.

He said: “I was literally half a mile into a six-mile run but the paths were so incredibly muddy I had fallen once already.

“I went down hard, hearing two loud cracks.

“After some time alone, getting rather cold, I knew I had to get back to civilisation and my car in the car park. “I thought there’s no one here I’m going to have to get off my backside so I started to hop back.

“I was trying to hop uphill on a muddy path which was impossible really.”

He was found by a woman, who only identified herself as Lauren from Calne, and her daughter Jo, who told him they were on a walk from Ford to Castle Combe.

Grp Cpt Wariner, of the 90 Signals Unit at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire, said: “Lauren was an absolute superstar to permit me to hang onto her shoulders as she walked me up that muddy rocky footpath back to the Castle Combe car park.

“I must have covered her in mud from my fall.

“The genuine kindness of complete strangers coming across a man on his own, covered in mud and in obvious pain, was commendable.

“While some might say it was nothing, many more would avoid the situation not knowing the person they had stumbled across.”

Grp Cpt Wariner was told his leg was broken when he went to the Royal United Hospital, Bath. He will be in a plaster cast for eight weeks.

Grp Cpt Wariner, who is married with two children, said: “I’m in the RAF and I’m quite an active person. I’m going to do the Chippenham half marathon in September, so I’m mightily irritated.

“It stops you in your tracks, you really cannot do a lot but I will be absolutely fine in eight weeks time.

“I would love to send a gift to Jo and Lauren to thank them. “It just reminds you of how friendly Wiltshire is as a place, people are just genuinely kind. “When you work all over the world and meet lots of people in different places not everyone is as friendly.”

Anyone who knows the two women can put them in touch with Grp Cpt Wariner by contacting Anne Moore at the email address above.