‘NEIGHBOURS from hell’ who turned their Padiham home into a ‘drop-in centre for drink and drug-taking’ have been barred from part of the town.

Police had originally looked to issue a closure order at the Hapton Street home of Howard Brooks and Lucy Fraser.

But when the couple moved out suddenly, neighbourhood officers secured a two-year anti-social behaviour order against the pair.

Brooks, 52, and Fraser, 29, are now banned from a wide portion of the town, incorporating Hapton Street, until May 2015.

Reedley magistrates were told the couple had persistently used foul language, caused excessive noise, used controlled drugs and allowed others to act similarly in their home, causing harrassment, alarm or distress to people living locally.

Neighbourhood police have now vowed to take similar action against anyone caught disrupting other people’s lives in Padiham and beyond.

The ASBO was taken out by the constabulary in partnership with the anti-social behaviour unit at Burnley Council.

Speaking after the case, Pc Graham Lund, of Padiham’s neighbourhood policing team, said: “They had frequent callers to their house, which was being used as a ‘drop-in centre’ for drink and drugs.

“It was making the lives of neighbours’ hell, as well as for people living in the surrounding area. There were many, many calls to the property so we used this as a preventative measure, and to stop them moving houses and doing the same thing.”

One neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, said the house was ‘notorious’ before she moved into her home, in nearby Wesley Street.

She said: “I was well aware that the house was notorious for drinking and partying before I moved in.

“Quite often I would come home from working late and they would be making noise in the street, smashing glass bottles and acting out of control.”

Another neighbour, in Altham Street, adjacent to Hapton Street, said: “The odd night you would hear screaming and shouting. One day I came home from work and saw the house was boarded up, I was delighted.

“I’ve only been on this street a few months but everyone knew it was a drug den and they would have all sorts of people over.”

Further along Altham Street, a third neighbour said: “There were always police at the house and sometimes they would hang about drinking at the path up on the Greenway. There was always trouble.”