Thieves who entered a house in Birkirkara while a woman was asleep in the early hours of this morning escaped empty handed when she woke up and started screaming.

The police said the incident happened at about 2 a.m. in Triq Id-Dejqa, Birkirkara.

According to preliminary investigations, the 62-year-old woman was asleep when hooded unknown persons entered her house. One of the men tried to hold the woman but as she woke up she started screaming for help, whereupon the intruders ran off.

Further investigations are under way.

Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona is holding an inquiry.

Meanwhile, a “substantial sum of money” was stolen from the home of a 57-year-old woman in Birkirkara on Sunday night.

The police said the woman was about to enter her home in Mnajjar Street at 7.45 p.m. only to find that her door had been left open and the lights of her home switched on.

Realising she may have been burgled, she started screaming for help and the police who were at the nearby police station heard her cries and rushed to her aid. They entered the house but found nobody inside.

The woman told the police that a “substantial sum of money” had been taken.

Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani Grima ordered an inquiry.