A WOMAN subjected to a terrifying attack at the hands of her estranged husband has spoken for the first time about the ordeal and said: "My son saved my life."

Anna Jones said her case should act as a warning to other victims of domestic violence after admitting she refused to believe people who told her what would happen.

And she said her case mirrored that of EastEnders' battered wife Mo Slater, who repeatedly forgave a violent husband.

Anna was threatened by ex-partner Aledwyn Jones who told her he was going to slash her throat and ordered his young son to record her pleas for mercy.

The ordeal happened after Jones, who had been ordered by police to stay away from Anna following an earlier fight, broke into the couple's home in Darwen in the middle of the night.

He dragged her from her bed in front of her two young sons and threatened to kill her saying: "I'm going to kill you, I'm going to slash your throat," before Anna managed to reach over and push an emergency alarm linked to the police.

Jones, 43, was jailed for five years by a judge at Preston Crown Court last week after admitting making threats to kill and affray.

Today Miss Jones, who still lives in the house in Richmond Terrace where the attack happened last August with young sons Travis, six, and Owen, four, and five-year-old daughter Taylor, relived the terror and thanked the police for their support.

But, she said, it was six-year-old Travis who deserved the biggest thank you, because he had stayed in the room during the attack.

She said: "If that lad had left the room I think he would have put the knife in me. And, with the knife he had, I wouldn't be here now."

"He saved my life by not leaving me alone when he saw my life was in danger and having to watch and hear me in this terrifying ordeal.

"I now know how lucky I am to have survived this and I can honestly say I feel lucky to have come out of a ten-year living hell of domestic violence."

Anna said the tale of EastEnders' character Mo and her violent husband Trevor had mirrored her own life until the most recent twist when Mo fought back.

"It is so real, what's been happening in EastEnders. I was watching it and I was thinking 'I could have been her.' What was happening with her husband was so real."

She added: "Everyone knew but me what was going to happen, and I didn't believe them. I was all for him all the time. I kept going back to him. I wish I'd listened to them now."

She said the family were coping with their ordeal, although they did not talk about the attack itself.

She added: "I don't know whether any of this has really hit me yet. It is really weird."

Figures from Lancashire Police show that Eastern Division, which covers Blackburn, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley, is second only to Pennine Division, covering Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, for the number of domestic violence incidents reported.

Between April last year and January 2002, there were 3,181 incidents of domestic violence reported to police. In Pennine Division, 4,364 incidents were reported.

Earlier Preston Crown Court heard that Anna Jones was so scared of what her husband would do that police installed an alarm connected to the police station in Darwen which she could press in an emergency and gave her another to wear around her neck.

Despite being warned off, Jones started making threatening phone calls to his wife during which he threatened to "slice her up."