A severely autistic ten-year-old who saved his mother's life is among the winners in the Woman's Own Children of Courage Awards.

Myles Fitzpatrick, from Haywards Heath, jumped into action when his mother Leza suffered a near fatal asthma attack.

Myles is usually unable to carry out even basic instructions, such as being told to wash his hands.

But when Leza, 37, suddenly found herself fighting for breath as she watched TV with two of her other three children - Luke, 12 and Katrina, 15 - she heard Katrina tell Myles to dial 999.

As Katrina held her mother's hand, Myles found a letter with his address on, and read it out to the operator.

The operator then gave him instructions on how to perform emergency resuscitation, which he relayed word for word to Katrina.

By the time paramedics arrived 20 minutes later, Leza had regained consciousness and Myles had reverted back to his old self.

Leza said: "I'm amazed that he managed to step outside of his world just long enough to save my life.

"I feel very lucky to be given these three children."

Stars of stage and screen gathered for the event today, including recently crowned King of the Jungle Christopher Biggins, Cerys Matthews, Simon Cowell, Shayne Ward, Richard Madeley, Judy Finnegan, Brendan Cole, Kate Garraway, Jimmy Tarbuck, and Gok Wan, as well as various soap stars.