The RUC has begun a murder inquiry after an eighteen-year-old woman was fatally wounded at her home by a masked intruder. Tara Boothby was found with serious head injuries at her family's home in the Fortsandel Avenue area of Coleraine, County Derry, last night by her seventeen-year-old brother.
He has told detectives that he found his dying sister after being confronted in the house by an intruder wearing a black balaclava.
The intruder fled after a scuffle in which the brother was slashed on the forehead with a knife. He then found his sister slumped in a chair in the living room, he told officers.
Police said that Miss Boothby was taken to hospital but died of her injuries a short time later. Detectives said that they were trying to trace the intruder and appealed for anyone who saw him to contact them. An RUC spokesman said that they are keeping an open mind about the motive, and that a number of possibilities are being investigated. The intruder was described as 5ft 9ins, and wearing a black padded jacket, jeans, black gloves and balaclava.
