A TEMPORARY closure order on a Walcot crack den will ensure the flat's tenant can get the help she needs, Swindon Borough Council has said.

The local authority owns the Raleigh Avenue flat, which was made subject to the partial closure order on Thursday.

It bans anyone except tenant Diane Ponting, the emergency services and Swindon Borough Council from entering the home.

JPs heard Ponting was being exploited by unscrupulous drug dealers, using her home as a base from which to sell cocaine and heroin.

A council spokesman said: “Together with our partners in the police, we have been in regular contact with our tenant. Although the tenant has found it difficult to engage with our services, we have a monitoring system in place to oversee the welfare of vulnerable tenants and, in this case, the Partial Closure Order will allow her to get the support she needs, if she choose to do so, without losing her home.”