A TEENAGER who wore a Twin Towers costume at a fancy dress party has caused outrage in her home town in East Lancashire.

Annie Collinge’s behaviour was branded ‘appalling’ and ‘truly terrible’ after she entered a nightclub competition, along with a friend, dressed as a burning World Trade Center tower.

The former Ribblesdale High School pupil, 19, whose parents live on a dairy farm on the outskirts of Clitheroe, won the contest alongside Amber Langford, and the pair received a £150 prize.

The University of Chester criminology student, who attended the Rosies nightclub Hallowe’en event in the city on Thursday, modelled her South tower costume which included figures jumping out of windows and a plane crashing into the structure.

Clitheroe Town Council leader Coun Mary Robinson said: “Her actions are absolutely terrible and I find them appalling.

“I had family in North America at the time and when I heard the news on that awful day, my face went grey.

“To hear that she has acted in this uncaring way is truly sad and I hope she realises all of the pain and upset that she has caused.

“Everybody who is in the slightest bit connected to that tragedy will feel the same way about this and I think she will be regretting this for a long time to come.”

Ribble Valley Borough councillor Allan Knox said: “It’s very insensitive and I think it’s a student prank that has gone terribly wrong.

“She must not have fully realised the full scale of her actions and I hope she comes to understand in time.

“For anyone who was around on that day it was a JFK moment and this story will bring back a lot of memories for an awful lot of people.”

The episode sparked national outrage yesterday when the teenagers were pictured on the front page of a national newspaper in their outfits.

Steve Dilworth, owner of The Swan With Two Necks in neighbouring Pendleton, said: “I see the family around every now and again and they are just normal people.

“The older generations are well respected and this is totally out of character for a member of that family."

In a joint statement by the University of Chester and Chester Students’ Union, officials said: “Both the University of Chester and Chester Students’ Union utterly condemn the appalling photos which have been shared on social media.

“Both organisations have begun an urgent investigation into the circumstances around which these images have been taken with a view to taking the necessary action.”

And in a joint statement, Miss Collinge and Miss Langford said: “We never meant to be offensive, but we apologise if any offence was caused.

“The idea was to depict a serious, modern-day horror that happened in our lifetime and was not intended as a joke.”

Miss Collinge’s Twitter account was removed following the party.

A spokeswoman for the Stonegate Pub Company, which runs Rosies nightclub, said: "Following the club night Hallowe’en promotion that took place at Rosies, Chester, we are extremely concerned that an award of shopping vouchers was made to two young women who were dressed in a distasteful and offensive manner.

"There was a serious error of judgement made on the evening by a contracted DJ to award such a prize and we apologise to anybody who may have been upset or offended by this. A full investigation by the company is taking place."