A teenager has been jailed for eight years after admitting he raped a 76-year-old woman.

He was 15 when he attacked the pensioner in her home in Newtownards.

When police questioned him about minor offences, they found his DNA linked him to the scene.

The woman never returned to live in her home and died eight months after the attack.

The young man, who remains anonymous because of his age, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.

The pensioner was putting her dog out her back door when the teenager came in through the front door, confronted her in the hallway, grabbed her and took her to her bedroom where he attacked her.

She was found later, shaking and naked from the waist down.

A statement from the victim's daughter was read out in court, saying all her mother’s "spark, determination and character" left her after the attack.

It continued: "She was distressed and humiliated by her attack until she died. He snatched the later years of her life, destroying my mother’s whole being and haunted her right until her death."

The defendant's barrister Terry McDonald said the teenager had drink and drugs problems and was immature.

The court also heard that he had mild learning difficulties.

Judge Geoffrey Miller QC said the guilty young man had a high likelihood of re-offending.

(NE)