A CHILD was punched in the face and knocked unconscious after trying to protect his mother.

At Bolton Crown Court, attacker Daniel Cowie was jailed for 14 months and Judge Timothy Stead described his behaviour as ‘outrageous’.

James Preece, prosecuting, told the court how Cowie had spent the evening of January 2 at a woman’s home where they were drinking vodka and playing board games.

But the woman described how 26-year-old Cowie suddenly ‘flipped’ and began attacking her.

She was knocked, temporarily unconscious to the floor, where she noticed her nose was bleeding.

Her children awoke and arrived in the doorway.

“They were screaming and shouting and could see what was going on,” said Mr Preece, who added that they later described how they had seen their mother being punched in the face and her head pushed against a wall.

One primary school aged boy went to help his mother.

“He tried to intervene by hitting the defendant,” said Mr Preece.

“The defendant reacted to this by punching him in the face, causing him to fall backwards into a wardrobe and he lost consciousness temporarily.”

A younger girl also suffered bruising and scratches to her arm when Cowie grabbed her.

The children fled the house, and one child told neighbours who took them in, ‘he’s killing my mum’.

The mother suffered scratches, bruises and swelling to her face.

Cowie, of Chorley New Road, Bolton, pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm, two counts of assault and criminal damage.

He told police after his arrest that he had drunk 15 vodkas and could not remember much of what had happened.

Helen Longworth, defending, told the court: “He said he is disgusted in himself and cannot sleep.

“He feels a tremendous amount of guilt even though he cannot remember his actions.”

Sentencing Cowie, Judge Stead said: “It is a shocking aspect of this case that you punched the boy in the face.

“Not content with that, you grabbed an even younger child.

“It was an outrageous attack and quite inexcusable.”