A DRUGS den has been closed and the nuisance tenants evicted – and now neighbours are planning a party to celebrate.

Police secured a court order yesterday (Thursday) to close the drugs house in Teme Road, Tolladine, Worcester.

Within hours of the order being granted, the windows and door of the squalid upstairs flat were behind heavy-duty steel shutters as neighbours looked forward to 'peace and quiet' from those who use, and in some cases deal, heroin and crack cocaine.

Inside the flat was evidence of the use of heroin, including a used syringe and a spoon as well as empty cans and piles of dirty clothes strewn everywhere.

The landlord, who attended with police and did not wish to be named, said he hoped he could one day get a law-abiding tenant to live there.

He added: "I hope this sends a message that the private landlords will co-operate with the police to try and get rid of the scourge of class A drugs."

The flat will be closed for at least three months after West Mercia Police was inundated with calls about drugs, anti-social behaviour and assaults, including a stabbing.

PC Robert Elton taped the order notice inside and outside the flat and delivered leaflets explaining to neighbours what had happened.

Anyone who tries to get back in apart from the landlord and police can be arrested.

The effect of the order is that the two people living there, a 52-year-old man and a 49-year-old woman, cannot return to that address.

Neighbours Garry Ryder, 54, a taxi driver, and his partner Julie Cliff, 42, said they had suffered lack of sleep because of the constant noise, including banging, car horns, arguments and fights which had led to his car being damaged.

He said: "There's going to be a party on Saturday night to celebrate. It will be nice to get a good night's sleep."

Mr Ryder, who has lived there for the last 17 years, said the disturbance had not been fair on his partner who had to get up at 4am for work.

He added: "PC Robert Elton is one of the best, I would say. If you're fair with him, he's fair with you. He's a good copper. I don't usually like them but he's a good one."

Miss Cliff added: "I feel relieved and I'm looking forward to some peace and quiet."

Sgt Simon Hallam, of the safer neighbourhood team, said: "The property has been used as a drug house whereby the occupants have been allowing numerous other individuals, including drug users and alcoholics to use it.

"Some of the incidents have included serious assaults, criminal damage and drugs activity."

An assault has occurred with the use of a weapon (a knife) and officers and paramedics have been called to drug overdoses at the property.

Priority CID, part of West Mercia, were involved in a warrant at the flat on November 6 and three people were arrested, two of which (neither of them the tenants) were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin and charges have now been authorised against them by the Crown Prosecution Service.

No charges have been brought against the man who had been living at the address and the woman remains under investigation.

Worcester City Council has been notified and it is understood they have found somewhere else to live in the meantime.

The closure order uses relatively recent legislation from the Antisocial Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 which can be employed when people living at the address or associated with it have been engaged in disorder or criminal behaviour and where the use of the premises has resulted in serious nuisance to members of the public.

The order was sought after what Sgt Hallam described as the escalation and increasing severity of incidents, of which 18 have been reported since January, along with other intelligence reports.

He added: "This address itself is evidence of the impact one such premises can have on the wider community. It is a last resort because we potentially make people homeless. It is not a step that is taken lightly."

However, he said there had been 'many warnings' about what would happen if the behaviour continued.

West Mercia Police relies on information from the public about drug dealing and drug use. If you have information you can call them on their non-emergency number 101.