TOWN leaders have welcomed the jailing of a woman who has repeatedly disrupted the lives of her Padiham neighbours.

Magistrates in Burnley lost patience with Maralynne Holt, 57, after she breached the terms of an anti-social behaviour order.

Under the terms of the order, first imposed in 2003, Holt, who suffers from bi-polar disorder, was told to curb threatening behaviour towards others.

But she was reported to police after more trouble outside her home and summonsed to appear before magistrates.

Holt, of Partridge Hill Street, Padiham, was jailed for 60 days after she admitted breaching the ASBO.

But community leaders want to ensure that there is no repeat of Holt's behaviour when she is released from custody in a month's time.

Coun Andrew Tatchell, Gawthorpe ward councillor, said: "My interest is the long-term welfare of local residents - it has been a nightmare for them.

"If this is a step in the whole process of what is going to be done about this woman, then I welcome the sentence.

"Police have worked extremely hard on this case and whatever happens I hope it is beneficial for people who live there and it is not just part of a cycle. There has to be a permanent solution to this."

Holt and her disabled husband Victor hit the headlines last year after they were found living in a tent in their garden.

Their home in Partridge Hill Street had been declared unfit to live in after a fire there months earlier.

Council housing chiefs offered alternative accommodation but the couple continued to remain at odds with their neighbours following further claims of anti-social behaviour by the pair.

The couple eventually relocated to Partridge Hill Street, where they lived with their 15-year-old dog Ted, without running water or cooking facilities, in a tent in the back yard .