Man quizzed over bid to rob pensioner

A man was being questioned by police in Derry today after neighbours of an 83-year-old man clashed with a gang trying to rob him.

Two men, one brandishing a peat-cutting spade and the other a cudgel, forced their way into the pensioner’s home at Messines Park in the Shantallow area of the city in the middle of the night.

Neighbours who saw what happened, went to assist the householder and confronted the intruders inside the house, said police.

A scuffle developed during which one of the neighbours suffered injuries to his head and hand.

One intruder and an accomplice waiting in a nearby car made off, while a third member of the gang was detained at the scene.

A Police Service spokesman said a man arrested on suspicion of aggravated burglary and assault occasioning actual bodily harm was being questioned.