Two teenagers who were accused of attempting to rape a schoolgirl in Ballymena have had the charges against them withdrawn, the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) said.

The boys had been charged in connection with an alleged serious sexual assault on a teenage girl in the Clonavon Terrace area of the Co Antrim town in June.

The incident sparked days of race-related anti-immigration rioting in Ballymena, with linked sporadic outbreaks of violence in other parts of Northern Ireland.

The PPS said there had been “significant evidential developments” in the case.

The boys are aged 14 and 15 and have been in custody since they first appeared in court in June, when they addressed the court through a Romanian interpreter.

A PPS spokesperson said: “The PPS has a duty to keep prosecution decision

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