The frail 87-year-old victim of a brutal sex assault in her own home yesterday waived her right to anonymity saying: "I want people to know who I am and what this man has done."

Widow Frances Doran was attacked in her ground floor council flat as she lay in bed some time after 11pm on Friday.

The pensioner, who lives alone, issued a statement from her hospital bed saying: "I want people to know who I am and I want people to know what this man has done and I don't want anyone else to have to go through it.

"Don't let him get away with it."

The victim's daughter Denise Timney said the family had been buoyed by the messages of support they have received.

Mrs Timney added: "We have all been in a state of shock since this happened and I think it is only just starting to hit us, but we are also very, very angry. "My mother is very frail but she is fighting back and every day she is feeling a bit better."

Mrs Doran, a mother of two of Woodstock Avenue in the Grangetown district of Sunderland, was so terrified after the attack that she wrapped herself in her bed clothes and only raised the alarm next morning when her home help arrived.

The police were called and she was taken to Sunderland Royal Infirmary where she received treatment in the Coronary Care Unit for an already existing heart condition.

Police have appealed for information about four people they would like to trace as part of their inquiries.

A teenager aged about 17 was seen knocking on the window of a nearby flat at around 5.30pm on Friday.

They would also like to trace a man seen in the communal entrance to the flats at around 11.20pm that day. He is in his late twenties and has short dark hair and was wearing a baggy jacket.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Wade yesterday appealed to a woman who telephoned from a call box on Monday afternoon to get in touch again as she did not leave her name.

He also asked a man who was a passenger in a taxi who was taken from the Ryhope area of Sunderland and dropped off in Woodstock Avenue at about 3.30am on Saturday to come forward.

A £2,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the man responsible.