Police shut down crack house

Officers from the Wormholt and White City safer neighbourhood team first carried out a dawn raid on the flat in Phipps House three weeks ago, acting on intelligence from residents. They discovered a woman, three men and paraphernalia associated with class A drugs littered around the home.

One of the men, a known drug dealer, was arrested for outstanding offences, and procedures were put in motion to shut down the drugs den. The team returned on Tuesday this week to evict the tenant, who was found with crack cocaine, charged and cautioned and immediately placed in the care of Hammersmith and Fulham Council. The door and windows of the flat were sealed shut on Wednesday morning.

The operation follows a high profile push to clear Shepherd's Bush of crack houses, with 20 closures in the first half of the last year.

PC Gareth Davies, of Wormholt and White City safer neighbourhood team, said: "What appears to have happened is that local drug dealers have picked up on the fact that the tenant is dependent on class A drugs, and they've used that dependency to force their way inside.

"When we came here to force everybody out, everything was already in place to give her emergency accommodation and transfer her away.

"We've tried to turn this around as quickly as possible and we're very pleased that in the space of five or six weeks, from the residents coming to us and saying 'we've got an issue', we've been able to get to court and get the whole thing closed down."

The operation comes in the same week that the police launched the first neighbourhood watch scheme for White City, in the hope that more people living in the estate's 2,000 homes can be persuaded to come forward to report crime and anti-social behaviour.

"We want people to realise that this is what can happen, as long as we're talking to each other," said PC Davies.

One 46-year-old neighbour, whose wife has been robbed twice on their doorstep in the last five years, welcomed the closure of the crack den.

He said: "A lot of different people were coming to the flat, and nearly every day I would have someone coming and ringing my bell and trying to get inside.

"They were making noise all the time, shouting and fighting late at night and at any time of the day.

"I worry about the safety of my family and I think it's a good thing that they closed it down."