Burglars chased away by pensioner

An 86-year-old County Down woman has chased away would-be burglars from her home with her walking stick.

The woman answered the door of her home at Vianstown, near Downpatrick, to a boy who said he had kicked his football into her back garden.

As she spoke to him, the woman noticed two men had entered her house through the back door. She chased them with her stick and they ran off empty-handed.

Police have appealed for anyone with information to contact them.

'Disgusted'

Meanwhile, the daughter of an 83-year-old man who was robbed at knife-point near Dungiven has said she is disgusted by the attack.

Joseph O'Neill was in bed when two men and two boys broke into his home at Coolnasallagh.

The gang then ransacked the house and left with some money.

Bridget Guy said the robbers terrorised her father, who has only one lung and uses an inhaler and nebuliser. He was in bed when the gang entered the house.

"He woke up and two men and two younger fellas were round the bed," said Mrs Guy.

"They tipped up the mattress and started shouting at him: 'Give us your money'.

'No thought for him'

"He was tipped up, the mattress fell down again and he rolled out and started to get on his clothes. They then started to ransack the place."

Mrs Guy said the gang stole money from a wardrobe which they prised open.

"It makes me quite sick to think that they would come into the home of an 83-year-old man, who doesn't keep that well, and do what they have done to him," she said.

"They have no thought for him or his well-being.

"At 83, he should be able to get living in peace, sit at your fire and leave your door open if you want, without someone coming in and doing this to someone who is quite good."

Mrs Guy said her father was not physically hurt by the gang, but had been left extremely shocked by his ordeal.