POLICE have praised residents whose cooperation and support led to a raid on a suspected brothel in an unassuming Walcot street.

But some neighbours of the house in Markham Close say they didn’t have a clue about alleged sex for sale activities going on in their street.

Seven officers raided the house in Markham Close on Wednesday morning, where they recovered around £4,000 in cash and found three women, thought to be from Eastern Europe, who it is suspected were working at the house.

A man was later arrested in connection with the incident, while the women were assisted by the Human Exploitation and Emerging Threats (HEET) team with Wiltshire Police.

PC Dan Ashfield, community beat manager for Parks and Walcot, who was involved in the raid, said: “The operation wouldn’t have been possible without the support and intelligence of the local community.

“It is thanks to the neighbours here who noticed some suspicious behaviour and reported it to us that we were able to secure a warrant for the raid.

“We’ve been getting intelligence from the local community for about two months now of people, mainly men, coming and staying for half an hour or an hour and then leaving again.

“The women are the real victims here. They are now receiving any help and support they need from the HEET team.

“We want to encourage more members of the public to get in touch if they see anything unusual or notice anything suspicious so we can continue to crackdown on similar crimes.”

Angela Richens, who lives opposite the property, watched the drama unfold outside her front door. The 67-year-old said: “It was like something from [TV programme] CSI. There was a big van on the end of the drive and people were walking around with gloves on, so there was obviously something going on.”

But she said she was surprised to receive a visit from police later asking her questions about the house.

“I’m so unaware of things that go on so I couldn’t help at all,” she said.

“There are always younger people coming and going in cars, but I always think people must have lots of friends.

“You notice more if there is noise or fighting or something going on. This is a surprise.”

Josie Goodenough, who also lives in the street, had been out on her weekly shop when the police carried out the raid.

The 73-year-old grandmother of 11 said: “I thought it was drugs. I have lived here since the 1960s and we’ve never had anything like that, nothing like sex dens or brothels.

“You never expect something like that to be on your doorstep. There’s been a few drugs raids over the years but nothing like this.”

Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, recalled seeing many men coming and going from the property.

They said: “It’s pretty disgusting really, thinking that sort of thing has been going on.

“We used to see the same men turning up in expensive cars and then leaving, usually carrying plastic bags.

“We saw all the forensics turn up as well to carry out the investigation.”

Anyone with any information should call the police on 101.