A COUPLE have been hit with five-year Anti Social Behaviour Orders banning them from playing loud music.

The orders, the longest ever given in Blackburn with Darwen for noise nuisance, prohibit Martin Kelly and Tina Chadwick, of Hamilton Street, Mill Hill, Blackburn, from allowing noise or "amplified sound"' to escape from their home.

And the couple, described as "neighbours from hell", have been told they could face jail if they break the orders, which also prohibit them from entering the gardens of a neighbour's home without consent.

Kelly, 35, and Chadwick, 32, did not attend court to hear the case or say anything in their defence.

As well as the ASBOs they were each fined £500 and ordered to pay £400 costs for breach of a noise abatement notice.

Police and environmental health officers from Blackburn with Darwen Council are to distribute leaflets in and around Hamilton Street warning other residents of the pair's behaviour and asking them to report any breaches of the Asbos. Mother of three Toni Burford, 30, a neighbour of Chadwick and Kelly, gave evidence in court against the pair to help secure the orders.

She said: "I have been trying for four years to have something done about the noise from next door.

"They (Kelly and Chadwick) are always playing loud dance music into the night, shouting in the street and shouting at each other, sometimes until well after 5am.

"My eldest (child) has sometimes had to miss school on a number of occasions because she has been unable to sleep the night before and is too tired to go to school it is not fair.

"In the summer they even had a pub speaker on their kitchen roof blaring out music.

"When they invite people round you can always hear them swearing really loud, it's like living next door to a pub. They are the neighbours from hell."

Coun Andy Kay, executive member for regeneration, said: "ASBOS are a very useful tool for communities to tackle problems of anti-social behaviour from people who have total disregard for the quality of life of people living close to them.

"These orders send a clear signal that this kind of behaviour is not acceptable and should it carry on can end in a custodial sentence."

The council had originally served noise abatement notices on March 22, 2005, but officers witnessed a breach of this order on May 28 and legal proceedings were started.

On June 8, environmental health officers seized "noise making equipment" from Kelly and Chadwick's home.

But on June 19, 2005 officers again witnessed a further breach.