A NORTHERN Echo newspaper delivery boy was hailed a hero yesterday after he saved an elderly woman in distress.

Michael Owens, 14, was on his round in Linden Grove, a sheltered accommodation unit in Coxhoe, near Durham, when he found the pensioner in trouble.

He said: "I had gone to post the paper through her door when I noticed something was wrong.

"I heard noises coming from the other side of the door - she was in agony. She was trying to say something, but I could not make it out.

"I asked her if she was all right and she said no."

The youngster, a pupil at Tudhoe Grange Comprehensive School, ran around the corner to the home of Audrey Lowther, a pensioner in Lansdown Road.

"I told Mrs Lowther what had happened and she pulled her emergency cord to call the warden," he said.

"I spoke to the warden and explained what had happened, then went back to see the old lady to tell her that help was on its way."

The woman, in her 80s, is believed to have fallen. She was taken to hospital and has been moved to a residential home.

Yesterday, Michael's boss, newsagent Margaret Laing, of Coxhoe, praised his actions.

She said: "He is quite a hero. He is only a young lad, but he had the good sense to follow it through and did really well.

"He is such a nice boy - he even phoned up the next day to find out if the old lady was going to be all right."