Your good news of the day: Hero SAS sniper saves father and eight-year-old son from being beheaded by ISIS

ISIS militants had decreed that the little boy and his father must die after branding them "infidels" because they refused to denounce their faith. 

They were just seconds from death when the hero sniper intervened to stop the barbaric killing in the Syrian desert. The pair were part of the minority Shia sect of Islam which ISIS considers to be heretical. 

An Iraqi spy tipped off British special forces to the planned execution. Defence sources described how the SAS unit moved into a position just outside a village where ISIS members were holding the 'trial' in front of a crowd of locals who had been forced to attend at gunpoint.

A man and a young boy were dragged out in front of the crowd and were made to kneel down.

"They were both wearing blindfolds and looked terrified.

"A tall bearded man emerged and drew a long knife.

"He began addressing the crowd and slapping the father and his son around the head and kicking them on to the floor.  Standing either side of the executioner were two other Isis fighters, both armed with AK47s."

The SAS marksman, using a .50 calibre sniper rifle fitted with a silencer, killed the executioner just in time.

The source added: "The ISIS thug who was about to decapitate the father was shot in the head and collapsed.

"Everyone just stared in confusion. The sniper then dispatched the two henchmen with single shots – three kills with three bullets.

"Someone from the crowd then ran over and untied the father and son’s hands and took their blindfolds off.

"They just stared at the bodies and then ran. They were last seen heading towards the Turkish border in a pick-up truck.

"It was a good day’s work."

A good days work indeed.  Note this occurred in Syria, where the British at least will put troops on the ground.