One of the children living in the house was due to sit an A-level examination the next morning.

The case was raised at the recent meeting of Ballymena District Policing Partnership by independent member Audrey Wales, who asked how such a thing could happen.

Questioning the amount of intelligence gathered beforehand, she said: "It turned out the police had got the wrong house, yet this family had been living in the property for a year."

Mrs Wales said the family had been in contact with her and that the whole experience had been a very traumatic one for them, particularly for their daughter who had been taking A-level exams at the time.

Inspector Pete Bouma said: "Policing is not an exact science. On occasions, we get it wrong.

"An officer has been out to visit the family and has apologised."

He added: "We have offered the young resident involved a trip down to the police station and the opportunity to meet with police officers to alleviate any fear that may have been caused by what happened."