Four questioned over Belfast rape

Four people were tonight being questioned by police in Belfast who are hunting those responsible for the rape of a woman during a burglary at her home.

The 36-year-old woke in the early hours of Friday morning to find two males in the bedroom of her house at Brookvale Avenue in the north of the city.

One ransacked the room while the other raped her, police said. She was also hit on the head and body during what police branded an “abhorrent and cowardly crime”.

The woman was taken to hospital following the 4.00am attack. She was said to be “extremely traumatised”.

Police said that one of the attackers may have been as young as 14.

A man and a woman were arrested tonight for questioning about the incident. Earlier, two males were arrested separately a few hours apart.

Detectives investigating the crime made a fresh appeal for anyone who noticed anything suspicious in the early hours of Friday morning in the Brookvale, Cliftonville Road or Water Works area to contact them.