An elderly woman has been left traumatised after intruders broke into her east Belfast home and assaulted her. However, she decided to fend off the two burglars from her Belfast home with a floor brush. Police reported that the 82-year-old woman was at her Oberon Street in east Belfast on Saturday afternoon when she awoke to find a stranger in her hallway.

The burgalar claimed to be a policeman but had no identity card and she then found a second man ransacking her bedroom.

The pensioner shouted for help but was pushed onto a bed. One burglar tried to put a hand over her mouth but she then grabbed a brush and fended them off.

The two burglars left the house handed. Police said the woman was shaken by her ordeal.

East Belfast DUP MLA, Junior Minister Robin Newton, paid tribute to the lady's "bravery and presence of mind, that allowed her to fight back and drive the contemptible cowards off her property".

"It is shocking that East Belfast has witnessed yet another attack," he said. "The ripple affect of such incidents leaves senior citizens in the area greatly worried.

"Violent attacks of this type are deserving of the maximum sentences. Only when the thugs experience an appropriate period of time behind bars will they think twice before carrying out another incident."

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