AN investigation has been launched after a Blackburn beat bobby was seriously injured in a car crash while off duty.

PC Nicola Furness, community beat manager for Galligreaves, Griffin and Witton, is off on sick leave following the crash in the Walton-le-Dale area.

She had to be cut free from her car by firefighters and was taken to hospital with extensive leg, chest and neck injuries.

PC Furness is said to now be at home recovering and is expected to be off work for some time.

A police investigation has been launched into the crash, last month. No other vehicle was involved.

Bosses today said that officers were looking into how the crash happened, but that PC Furness has not been arrested or suspended.

Chief Superintendent David Mallaby, commander for the policing division covering Blackburn, today apologised to residents from the three areas as PC Furness's sick leave deprives them of a regular police presence.

In her absence juvenile nuisance is said to have increased and Mr Mallaby is keen to solve the problem swiftly.

He said: "We can we are trying to get a replacement for her as quickly as we can.

"The residents have suffered and we apologise that there has not been the consistency of community beat manager compared to some of the other areas of town, but that will be rectified."

PC Furness is a double award winner of the coveted Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society Award for bravery.

Last year she received the award after resuscitating a drug user in Stonyhurst Close, Blackburn.

Several years ago she also won the award after resuscitating an elderly man while on patrol in Whalley Range.