A HOUSE ‘notorious across Blackburn’ for hosting all-night parties, attracting runaway girls as young as 13, has been shut down by police.

PC Chris Hammill said Ann- Marie Ward’s rented home in Walsh Street, in the Infirmary area, was well known in the town as somewhere that anyone could go to party.

And he said that on more than one occasion vulnerable girls as young as 13, who had been reported missing by their parents, had been found at the mid-terrace home.

He said residents had been left enduring a ‘nightmare’ year with their lives blighted by constant noisy parties.

PC Hammill said: “One of the worst aspects of the problems at this house was that as well as attracting hardened street drinkers there were also vulnerable young people found here.

“We even had 13-year-old girls who had been reported as missing from home who were found there on several occasions.

“It was widely known as a party house, not just in the immediate area but across the whole of Blackburn.

“There were some extremely vulnerable children who were coming to the house to drink.”

Yesterday police posted a closure notice at the property.

The interim order means just Ward, 54, can live at the home, stopping the parties.

Magistrates will decide on Thursday whether to approve a three-month closure of the property in a bid to end anti-social behaviour at the site.

Police said there had been 40 incidents in nine months at the home, with reports of all-night parties, vandalism, noise and drunken behaviour.

The latest saw a 20-person party broken up at 5.30am yesterday, officers said.

Just last month there was a blaze at the house when a party got out of hand, according to police.

At the time Ward told the Lancashire Telegraph: “When I came to my kitchen door one of them was tipping my sofa over by the fire.

"I heard a smash and they had put the window in with my coffee table. It’s lucky they didn’t burn the whole place down.”

PC Hammill said: “This is very much a last resort to bring an end to the problems associated with this address.

“People should not have to put up with this kind of nonsense.

“There were constant complaints relating to the house.

“We were frequently called to the property because parties were getting out of hand.

“The house was even set on fire recently.”

Police said Ward moved in to the property in March last year and problems began in June. Police and council bosses were successful in December in gaining a noise abatement order which saw equipment including a television, karaoke machine, stereo and speakers seized. Mrs Ward then bought new items, police said.

Ward councillor Maureen Bateson said: “It has been horrendous for the people on this street.

"It has been a living hell for the people that live here.

"Even last night there were problems. It is a quiet road and everyone is entitled to a quiet life."

If police are successful in winning a closure order the property will be boarded up on Thursday and no-one will be allowed to live in or visit the house.