A JUDGE and police have praised the bravery of an 11-year-old girl who tackled her jealous father to stop him stabbing her mother to death.

Rebecca Mayhew disarmed her father John after he had plunged a hunting knife into the chest and stomach of his former wife, Ailsa.

Mayhew tried to get another knife from a kitchen unit but, Rebecca slammed his hand in a drawer, which allowed her and her mother to flee.

The drama unfolded after Mrs Mayhew dropped their daughter off at her ex-husband's home in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, last November.

She was planning to go out for the night with friends to celebrate her birthday and Mayhew had agreed to look after Rebecca, a court was told yesterday.

Teesside Crown Court heard that former miner Mayhew was unable to come to terms with the break-up of their marriage and his wife seeing someone new.

The 49-year-old had bought the knife from a sports shop on the afternoon of the stabbing and hid it by the side of a microwave oven.

When Mrs Mayhew, 45, and Rebecca arrived at his home in Bridge Street, he asked their daughter to go upstairs and tidy her room.

Then without warning he reached for the knife and told his former wife: "I got this for our Paul but I think I'll give it to you."

Richard Bennett, prosecuting, said Mayhew lunged forward and stabbed her once, before the couple wrestled and he stabbed her again.

Mayhew ended up on top of his victim and was trying to kill her, but her screams alerted Rebecca and she ran downstairs. "At this stage, in what the Crown says was a remarkable act of bravery, she ran into the kitchen and got hold of her father's head," said Mr Bennet.

"As he attacked her mother, Rebecca put her hands over his nose and mouth to restrict his breathing and started pulling him off."

Mrs Mayhew struggled free after Rebecca began punching and kicking her father, but he pulled her back by the hair.

The schoolgirl's struggles forced Mayhew to drop the knife and she threw it from the house. He tried to get a replacement from a drawer until she intervened again.

Mr Bennett said Rebecca's actions saved her mother's life - an opinion later supported by the judge and Durham Police.

Mrs Mayhew and her daughter ran to a neighbour's home and after being taken to hospital received emergency surgery.

When he was arrested nearby, Mayhew thought he had killed his ex-wife, and told police: "I should not have done what I did. I just lost the plot. When someone sleeps with your bird, it hurts. I didn't want to kill her.

I just wanted to stop her going out tonight."

Jailing him for 12 years for attempted murder, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox, QC, told Mayhew he had Rebecca to thank for him not facing a life sentence.

He said: "But for the quite remarkable bravery and persisting courage and determination of your daughter, who undoubtedly saved her mother's life, you would today be sentenced for murder.

"You have your daughter to thank.

You will never be able to thank her enough, for your determination was manifest."

Jonathan Walker, mitigating, said Mayhew had written a number of letters since being remanded in custody, which showed a different side to the jealous knifeman.

The court heard that Mrs Mayhew described him as the life and soul of the party, kind-hearted and affectionate during the early part of their marriage, but after becoming unemployed he turned to drink and suffered mental health problems.

Mr Walker said: "He is utterly wracked with guilt, utterly sorry for what he did and utterly sorry for placing his daughter in the position of having to observe such a horrific and unpleasant experience."

One of the letters written by Mayhew, which he hoped would be passed on to his ex-wife, reads: "Words will never be able to express how I feel. I am so, so sorry that I hurt you in such a horrific way. I will bear the guilt to my grave and by the grace of God I thank that you are here. I pray for your forgiveness one day."

After the case, Detective Constable Louise Guy described the attack as horrendous, and said: "That she has survived without any long-lasting injuries is thanks to her 11-year-old daughter. If it was not for her actions, her mother would have died. It is hoped that her bravery will now be recognised with an award.

"Mayhew has shown remorse for what he has done, but he will have to live with that for the rest of his life."