POLICE stormed a house in Blackburn after reports that a woman was threatening to harm herself with a knife.

Officers were told that Fionnuala Hamill, 30, had barricaded herself inside the house in Cockridge Close, Livesey.

Officers were called to the house at 5.40pm yesterday and attempted to talk a woman out, but she refused to leave.

Professional negotiators were called out but their efforts to persuade the woman to leave the house also failed.

Police forced their way in just after 11pm. Inspector Steve Lee said: "They ended up in a bedroom which had been barricaded from the inside.

"They forced the door and found a woman inside. She was not harmed and there was no struggle."

A teenage boy was also in the house trying to talk the woman out.

An ambulance was kept on standby throughout the incident and the area around the house was blocked off.

A woman was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and taken to Blackburn police station. She has been released on police bail pending further inquiries.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.