A WIDOW who was sexually and physically assaulted in her bed by an intruder was so terrified she wrapped herself in her bedclothes and did not move until the next morning, police said yesterday.

The alarm was only raised when the unnamed victim's home help arrived at her ground floor council flat in the Grangetown district of Sunderland.

Despite being frail, the 87-year-old woman is said to have tried to fight off the intruder, who struck after 11pm on Friday.

Detective Chief Superintendent Steve Wade said: "The woman was so traumatised by her ordeal that when the man left, and we are not sure what time that was, she wrapped herself in her bedclothes and lay terrified in bed until her home help arrived the next morning, and police were called."

The pensioner suffered bruising, shock and other injuries consistent with suffering a serious sexual assault, said Det Chief Supt Wade.

She was still in Sunderland Royal Infirmary's coronary care unit yesterday, where she was being treated for a heart condition.

Police want to trace two men who were seen in the area around the time of the attack.

Officers are reopening files on a similar attack on Wearside five years ago, but at the moment the two cases are not being linked