Gardai have appealed for witnesses after a woman in her 80s was threatened at her home by an armed and masked burglar who pulled a knife on the terrified pensioner.

A boy is recovering after been held at knifepoint by an intruder at his home in Limerick writes David Raleigh.

Police investigating the attempted knifepoint abduction of an RAF serviceman said there may have been an element of “pre-planning” and they cannot rule out terrorism as a motive.

A thug who held a teenager at knifepoint to blackmail his family for cash was snared by a half-eaten Wispa bar he left at the scene.