Suspect held in hunt for gun thief

Police hunting an armed raider who terrorised a couple and stole a shotgun arrested a suspect today.

The arrest was made when a man handed himself in to police at a north Belfast police station, a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) spokesman said.

British army experts later examined a car at Hopefield Street, a short distance from the Antrim Road PSNI station the man walked into.

Earlier, police widened their search for the raider after finding no one when they searched a derelict farm on the Plumbridge Road, Newtownstewart, Co Tyrone, close to where the robbery took place last night.

The farm was sealed off overnight when a car belonging to the victims was found abandoned there in the belief the man had taken refuge in one of the buildings.

The PSNI helicopter was also drafted into Co Tyrone to search for the raider.

Armed with a knife, the robber forced his way into the couple’s home, the Angler’s Rest bed and breakfast outside Newtownstewart, just after 10pm last night, assaulted the householder and seized a shotgun and ammunition.

When the householder’s wife returned home from a WI meeting, she too was threatened before the intruder took her car and made off.

The suspect is believed to have stayed in the B&B for a night earlier this month.

He was described as being in his mid-30s, 5ft 8in tall and of stocky, muscular build, with short black hair, a round face and prominent eyes.

Detectives hunting him warned the public not to approach him.

A spokesman said they had information he was originally from the Belfast area, but was thought to have been recently living in Leeds.

The shocked couple were being comforted after their ordeal by relatives away from their home. Their son said they were “recovering” and did not wish to speak about the incident.