Brothel closed down by police after complaints over scantily-clad occupants

Officers raided the end-of-terrace property in Flavell Street and handed a notice to a 20-year-old woman, ordering the occupants to stop using the house as a sex business.

Today, neighbours spoke of their relief at the police action and said they hoped it would bring to an end to the nuisance behaviour which has plagued the street for two months.

Linda and Bernard Thomas live opposite the address and said they saw men regularly pull up outside the house before being invited in by a woman inside.

As well as seeing semi-naked people inside the home, they also faced noise disturbances throughout the night and problems of cars pulling up and blocking the road.

Mrs Thomas, aged 63, said: "We didn't know what was going on at first - we'd see lots of different males visiting through the day and night, and many females too.

"There was noise too. You would hear shouting, groups of men leaving and laughing right into the early hours."

She added: "We hope this order by the police stops all this so we can return to leaving in a quiet street again."

Mr Thomas, 67, said: "It was the parking which was the main problem for me – cars would pull up around the clock."

A 21-year-old mother, who also lived near to the property, said: "You would hear loud noises throughout the night – it's not what you want with children living around here."

Police handed the notice, issued under the Sexual Offences Act, on Tuesday at 6.30am.

Sgt Jim Jones said: "We received calls from the local residents who had concerns about the address, complaining about numerous visitors to the address at all times during the night and day and believed the house was being used as a brothel.

"People don't want this on their doorstep and we were keen to take action.

"We are hopeful that this has helped reduce any anti-social behaviour the local residents must have been experiencing and we will be speaking to the landlord.

"We take calls of this nature very seriously and would encourage anyone affected by similar concerns to contact us."