Missing children found at house shut down by police

A house at the centre of serious anti-social behaviour was shut down by police after missing children were found there.

Police were called out to the address on Fallowfield Grove in Warrington on multiple occasions, as people were "coming and going at all hours", despite the current lockdown restrictions.

Those going into the house included people who have additional legal requirements to stay away.

There were reports of loud music, drug taking, foul and abusive language, littering, drunk and disorderly and intimidating behaviour stemming from the property.

The Warrington Police branch of Cheshire Constabulary said the force had secured a closure order for three months on the house after 'numerous reports of anti-social behaviour' alongside 'missing children being found there', reports Cheshire Live.

Posting on Facebook, a spokesperson for the police branch said: "PC Milby from the North Neighbourhood team has secured a closure order on a property in Longbarn after numerous reports of anti-social behaviour at the address alongside missing children being found there.

"PC Milby and the team will continue to take a hard stance against anti-social behaviour and work with the community to build a better Warrington."

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When asked for more information on this, a Cheshire Police spokesperson said young people who had been reported as missing from home were going to the house and being found there.

There were also reports of loud arguments and violent incidents at the property, including some in the street.

The closure order makes it a crime for anyone other than the landlord to be at the property over the next three months.

Closures such as this are designed to deter nightmare tenants from returning and allow communities to settle down and return to normal, while the people responsible for causing trouble have to find somewhere else to live.

PC Gareth Milby, of the Warrington North Beat Management Team, said: "The unacceptable behaviour of people inside and outside the house in Fallowfield Grove has blighted the community for a sustained period of time.

"It has caused significant alarm, harassment and distress to those who live in the area and has showed no sign of abating, despite the lockdown restrictions imposed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

"No-one should have to put up with persistent anti-social behaviour in their street.

"We will use the full remit of the law to tackle such behaviour, as this case shows."

Officers will carry out regular checks of the house over the next three months to ensure the order is not breached.

If anyone is found to have breached it they are liable to be arrested and face up to six months in prison, an unlimited fine or both.