A boy of eight saved his mother's life by fighting off an attacker who was strangling her to death.

Serial abuser James Edwin Firminger, 41, held a knife to the woman's throat and tried to throttle her repeatedly while her two children were upstairs, The Daily Mail reports.

As she was close to death, her youngest ran into the kitchen, hit him over the head and shouted 'Get off my mum'. Firminger replied 'he will be next' before the little boy hit him over the head and ran off to call police for help.

Firminger, who has previous convictions for attacking women, fled the house in Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire, after the attack on April 26.

Sending Firminger to prison indefinitely, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC praised the boy's bravery. He said: 'The boy was courageous in the extreme trying to defend his mother who was being half-murdered.

'That was an act of considerable courage on the part of a very young child who was observing a man trying to kill their mother.'
Hull Crown Court heard the 37-year-old mother thought she was going to die.

In a statement, she said: 'He put a knife to my throat and I thought he was just going to slash my throat without a care. I was terrified.

'He placed his hands around my neck and pushed his hands into my windpipe.

'I was struggling and couldn't get my breath. He pulled me onto the floor and he was sat astride my waist. I looked in his face and saw he was using all his strength to harm me. 'I was kicking my legs but it was doing no good.'

Prosecutor James Byatt said Firminger said he only stopped the attack in the kitchen when the little boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, struck him on the head.

Firminger has been jailed indefinitely after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm and threats to kill on April 26.
Firminger has been given a sentence of imprisonment for public protection and must serve a minimum term of two-and-a-half-years before he can apply to be released.

The Secretary of State will only release him when he is no longer a danger to the public.