POLICE in Burnley today vowed to hunt down missing suspects in the area and make them face their day in court after no one gave themselves up in a leniency deal.

Extra officers have been drafted into the area to track down around 30 people who have missed court dates and have outstanding warrants for their arrest following the poor response to an offer in December.

Officers had said that anyone who came forward would be dealt with quickly and leniently in court, where they could expect to be treated favourably because of their honesty.

But the offer failed to raise any suspects and police have unveiled a new hard line which has already resulted in five arrests in the past three days, including one who failed to appear at a magistrates hearing and another who missed a date at crown court.

The team are now gathering intelligence and plan to raid a number of homes this week in the new clamp-down. They promise outstanding suspects will now face the consequences without favour in court.

Inspector John Clucas said that the suspects still had the opportunity to give themselves up voluntarily but could expect to be hunted down if they remained in hiding.

He said: "There are a number of people being actively sought by police either for outstanding offences or after failing to appear in court.

"Prior to Christmas we launched an appeal for them to come forward and in return we promised to do our best to ensure their case was dealt with quickly and that the courts were aware of the fact they had given themselves up.

"Unfortunately, none of them took us up on our offer so now the team at Burnley have drafted in extra officers from Pennine Division's support unit to track them down.

"These officers could be doing other things of benefit to us. We want people to give themselves up in the first place, but if they don't we will let the court know we had to arrest them at their home address.

"If anybody knows the whereabouts of these or any criminals I would urge them to contact the police."

Call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.