PSNI Officer Run Over

There has been a dramatic conclusion to a so-called 'creeper burglary' in Co Down, where thieves entered an occupied house to take car keys and valuables as the owners slept.

A police spokeswoman in the North said this morning that an officer sustained a broken leg after being hit by a suspected stolen car in north Belfast.

The officer suffered a double fracture after attempting to speak with people in a car on the New Lodge Road at about 3.10am on Wednesday.

Police said that they believe the car was taken during a 'creeper burglary' in Ardglass, Co Down, and was found abandoned at Durham Street in Belfast. Two men were later arrested at nearby Ardmoulin Place.

The SDLP North Belfast councillor Nichola Mallon later said the whole community will have sympathy for the PSNI officer who was injured by a stolen car in the New Lodge Road.

She said: "This man had his leg broken in two places when he approached a suspect car and it suddenly drove off and hit him.

"There are many areas of Belfast plagued by car crime and the police need our full support in dealing with it.

"It is understood that arrests were subsequently made, but the police may still need help turning information into evidence and anyone who knows anything about this crime should contact them without delay," she said.

(BMcC/GK)