Two charged over attack on English tourists in Louth

Police in the North have charged two men in connection with a brutal attack on an middle-aged English couple in Co Louth earlier this week.

The holidaymakers had travelled to Ireland in a camper van and were parked near the border when they were woken from their sleep by a gang of men armed with hatchets.

The men forced their way in and assaulted the couple, leaving the 56-year-old woman with a fractured skull and her 61-year-old husband with a broken arm.

The gang also stole the camper van before setting it on fire across the border in south Armagh.

The PSNI later arrested two men aged 20 and 21 whose car failed to stop at a checkpoint and last night charged the pair with attempted murder, aggravated burglary, hijacking and arson.

The pair are due in court in Newry later today.