A VICTORIOUS councillor's celebrations were cut short last night when vandals threw a rock through his £400 front door.

Labour's Richard Heap had just returned to his home in Ormerod Street, Accrington, after holding on to his seat in Hyndburn Council's elections with an increased majority.

Mr Heap, a 55-year-old caretaker, was making a cup of tea with his partner Pam Barton when the lump of rock came flying through the glass-fronted door.

The police were called and took away the rock as evidence.

Mr Heap said: "We came in at around 1.30am and were getting ready to go to bed when some moron decided to throw a rock through the door.

"We haven't got a clue why they decided to do it but it looks as though the door will have to be replaced."

Elsewhere on election night, the drama stayed confined to the count.

In Burnley, Labour captured one other seat from the Liberal Democrats and two from the Conservatives - leaving them with just one seat on the council.

Conservative leader Enid Tate held Rosehill by just 42 votes - a victory she admitted she had not expected.

In Chorley, the Tories lost seven of their 13 seats in a disastrous night that bodes badly for the town's Conservative MP Den Dover.

Ribble Valley Tory MP Nigel Evans said: "Now the Government has to listen and work to get our message across. We have done better than last year and if our recovery had been on the scale of the economic recovery we have seen in Britain it would have been very different."

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