A Midland teenager has told how she killed her cheating boyfriend with a steak knife after he beat her until she thought she would die. Emma Protheroe, 19, was found not guilty of murdering James Martin, 23, after jurors heard she was in fear of her life and was suffering from 'battered woman syndrome'. Last week the teenager, originally from Chaddesley Corbett, Worcestershire, was also cleared of handling £50,000 profits that body-builder Martin had made from dealing in cocaine. She met the major drug dealer when she was just 16 and had regularly banked cash from his illicit trading. Fourteen-stone Martin was killed in May 2003 after Emma found him cheating with another woman - his latest in a string of affairs. She had confronted him at his lover's home and the couple then returned to their flat in Plumstead, London. But Martin, who regularly abused steroids, launched a vicious attack after accusing her of making him look like a 'dickhead'. Giving evidence, Emma had said: "When we got back he was just staring at me. I said 'Lets forget it and go to bed and sort it out in the morning'. "He just started shouting at me, saying I had embarrassed him. I had followed him to the house and made him look like a dickhead. I just knew where it was heading. "He just started raining blows on my head - big blows to my head. My head was smacking against the wall. He was hitting me and hitting me. He grabbed me and swung me around. It was as if I weighed nothing." Emma said she blacked out and came round in the bathroom when she heard Martin yell: "Don't make me come and get you." She said: "I just felt punches again. He was punching me for a bit then he would stop, wind himself up and start punching me again. "I thought if I looked at him in the eye and showed him how much he was hurting me he would stop, but he punched me in the eye. He looked like he was enjoying it." Emma managed to break free and escape to the kitchen, where she was sick. "I felt him come into the room," she said. "Then I just felt blows to my back. I was saying, 'Please stop, you're going to kill me'. "I thought 'This is it Emma, you're not going to see your family again'." It was then that she picked up the knife. "I just grabbed something off the side and tried to get him away with it," she said. "I didn't even have a chance to think about what I was doing. It just happened. "I used it to get him away. I just picked it up and swung it around. That was it. "I didn't even know what it was. I didn't know I was going to hurt him. I didn't know he was going to die. When I saw the blood I thought 'Oh my God'. "I saw the knife in my hand. It was bent. I just threw it to the ground." Martin chased her out of the flat but collapsed on the doorstep. An artery in his neck had been slashed open and he bled to death. She called an ambulance and was found cradling Martin with her hair and hands caked in his blood, crying: "Don't let my baby die." Psychiatrist Fiona Mason told the court that Emma was probably suffering from 'battered woman syndrome' at the time of the killing. Victims of the condition are said to be repulsed by the physical abuse they receive from their partners, but feel unable to leave. Experts also said it is likely Martin was experiencing 'roid rage' - an aggressive side affect of steroid use. When interviewed, Emma told police she knew Martin was dealing drugs. At the flat cops found £8,800 worth of cocaine, £24,000 in cash and 50 rounds of 9mm ammunition for a Browning pistol Martin used 'to control his patch'. Later they became aware that Emma had opened an account with the Halifax and banked £50,000 for her boyfriend. The cash was confiscated by the courts and Emma was charged - but later cleared of handling drugs money. fionnuala_bourke@mrn.co.uk | 
