Helicopter joins search for gun thief

A helicopter was brought in by police in the North today to help track down a raider who terrorised a couple and stole a gun from their home.

The hunt was widened and the aerial operation mounted after a search of a derelict farm at Newtownstewart, Co Tyrone, failed to find the man.

The farm buildings had been sealed off by police overnight when it was thought the man had taken refuge there after abandoning the couple’s car which he had stolen for his getaway.

Armed with a knife, the robber forced his way into a house in Plumbridge Road, Newtownstewart, just after 10pm last night, said the Police Service of Northern Ireland.