Pensioners targeted in robberies

Cllr Heather Black was threatened with a hammer

Pensioners have been robbed during separate attacks at their homes in counties Antrim and Armagh.

Five men robbed a 92-year-old woman in her house at Bellevue Park in Lisburn at about 2100 GMT on Tuesday. The woman was shocked but uninjured.

In Tandragee, DUP councillor Heather Black, 78, had her face cut in a raid at her home on the Portadown Road.

Meanwhile, an elderly couple were left shocked after a robbery at their home in Lurgan at about 1945 GMT.

Both the 80-year-old man and his 74-year-old wife were tied to chairs as the gang of four men ransacked their house on the Banbridge Road.

The robbers escaped with a sum of money.

The 92-year-old woman, whose home is Lisburn was robbed by a gang of five men, said she had been robbed a number of times in the past.

"It has happened to me four times. The first time I wasn't here, I came home from Belfast and my house was all ransacked," she said.

Police have issued an image of one of the Tandragee suspects

"They got through a window in the kitchen, but they break the doors down now.

"They say they want me to move out now, this is my home and I have lived here so long. I don't want to move out, but I will just see how I go."

Threatened

Mrs Black, a former mayor of Armagh City and District Council, said one of the six-strong masked gang held her down and threatened her with a hammer while the others ransacked the house.

"Last night at about 1930 (GMT), I heard voices outside the door so I asked who it was and I went to open the door," she told the BBC on Wednesday.

"I was on the phone with a friend and I told him not to hang up until I saw who it was.

"The next thing the door burst open and I was flung onto the settee and one man held me all the time, he had a balaclava on.

"The others did his instruction and went all through the house and demanded money. My bag was on the floor and they took what money was in it."

'Resilient'

Gareth Wilson, Mrs Black's council colleague, said she had been left distressed by the ordeal.

"Mrs Black is very resilient so I would say she'll bounce back from this," the DUP representative said.

"But it's very worrying for herself,... she's very shaken up after the incident."

Police have issued an electronic image of one of the men suspected of attacking Mrs Black.

Help the Aged spokesperson Duane Farrell said there was no easy solution to the problem of attacks on the elderly and called on the government to help.

"It is a community problem and we want to see the whole community, and all the relevant agencies, mobilised to take action," he said.

"However, what is currently needed, and woefully lacking, is leadership to kick start this action. It is government's responsibility to provide that leadership."

Police have appealed for anyone with information concerning any of the robberies to contact them.