DETECTIVES are hunting two vicious burglars who beat up a middle-aged woman in her home before tying her up and gagging her.

The 58-year-old victim needed treatment at Southampton General Hospital after falling downstairs at her Bournemouth Road cottage in a frantic bid to summon help.

Police have not released her name, saying she is still in a state of shock after her terrifying ordeal, and not in a state to talk to anybody.

But they have appealed for anyone who yesterday morning saw a red diesel saloon car in Emery Down, near Lyndhurst, in the New Forest, to contact them.

The injured woman's husband had just left for work when she woke on Friday morning to find two masked men in her bedroom at Emery Down.

They hit her, tied her up and gagged her. It took her 30 minutes to struggle free and phone the police. By then her balaclava-clad attackers had made their getaway.

A police forensic team were at the cottage most of yesterday, dusting for fingerprints and looking for clues to identify the intruders.

The robbery took place between 7.45 am and 8am, at a time when Bournemouth Road is full of commuter traffic.

Neighbours of the victim are stunned that such a vicious crime could take place at a time when the village is relatively busy.

An Emery Down resident - who didn't want to be named - said : "We are all terrified. We don't want it to happen to us! They are such a nice couple who have lived in the village for six years."

"I noticed a hole cut in the fence this morning which could be the way the burglars got in."

Bob Cooper, who lives in an Emery Down farm, said: "This stretch of road is a rat run which spoils the village. It also gives lots of people the chance to see this pretty little cottage which looks like it might be a weekend home and so a good target for burglary.

"There have been a lot of break-ins round here. It's getting worse and worse."