A FLAT identified as a so-called 'crack den' has been closed by police after residents complained that addicts had been making their lives a misery for years.

Officers raided the ground-floor flat at Hughes House in Leon Close, East Oxford, on Monday afternoon to issue a temporary closure notice on the property.

A more permanent order to close the flat in Hughes House, at 204 Cowley Road, was then granted by Oxford Magistrates' Court on Wednesday after it heard the property had been used to take class-A drugs and had caused a serious nuisance.

Anyone who attempts to enter the property in the next three months will risk arrest including the tenant, Rupert Sinclair.

Thames Valley Police have taken the step in conjunction with Oxford Citizens Housing Association (OCHA), which owns the property, and Oxford City Council's Crime and Nuisance Action Team (Canact).

The closure comes under new legislation, commonly known as 'crack house' powers, which enable police to take action over houses where class-A drugs are believed to be sold or used.

All three agencies had received repeated complaints from neighbours who claimed their lives were being made a misery by addicts using communal areas of the flats to take drugs.

On Monday, police officers had cleared the flat of visitors and drug paraphernalia including more than 70 used needles and a crack pipe.

Then, on Wednesday, they found the tenant and three other people at the flat, as well as more pipes and needles.

Acting Sergeant Simon Beaton, of Thames Valley Police, said: "Two people were asked to leave that was a known drug addict and a known prostitute, and the third male was arrested in connection with a burglary in the area."

Metal shutters have been placed on the doors and windows, and cleaners will be brought in to clean the flat which is bare of furniture, has no electricity, and is covered in excrement, urine and dirt.

Neighbour Stephanie Milligan, 18, said: "You don't understand how chuffed I am that they have got him out.

"They have come in and smoked crack and heroin right outside my door. It was nasty. I wouldn't leave my flat if I saw them out there. It's not worth it.

"I am just so glad it's over."

Another neighbour, who didn't want to be named, said: "I'm happy that he'll be gone. It might quieten things down. It should have been done quicker."

PC Leigh Thompson, drugs liaison officer, said a number of different agencies had tried to help Mr Sinclair, who has lived in Hughes House since 1998.

He said: "We're all for rehabilitation and we'll always give a helping hand, but there comes a time when that helping hand has to cease and we need to use the law." He added: "We are extremely pleased with the court result. The bottom line is that there was drug dealing and drug taking it was like an open house. It was class-A drugs.

"On Monday we saw the needles, it was obviously heroin, and we saw a crack pipe too."

The flat is only the second property in Oxford to be the subject of a closure order.