A man has been given a suspended sentence after police spotted him at a shut-down property just days before Christmas.

Stephen Rushton, of Derby Court, Walcot, was found by police at the property on Argyle Street in Gorse Hill.

The property had been subject to a closure order in October for three months because of "nuisance or disorder".

Footage of the extraordinary moment Wiltshire Police smashed their way into the house has now been released by police.

The video shows that officers at the scene realise there may be a breach of the order taking place. 

One of the officers looks through the window of the front door and says: "There's two in there, they're all heading out to the back."

Then without hesitation, the officer kicks open the property's front door with such force that the entire thing is sent flying off its hinges. 

The officer then makes their way calmly through the property, down a hallway and into what appears to be a kitchen, where a male wearing a hoody is. 

The officer tells the male to "stay where you are" while the individual is handcuffed. 

A spokesperson for Wiltshire Police said: "Officers attended an address in Gorse Hill, Swindon to check that a closure order was being observed.

"The officers gained entry and arrested a man in his 40s on suspicion of breaching a closure order."

Rushton, 43, appeared at Swindon Magistrates Court on January 22 where he pleaded guilty to remaining on or entering a premises in contravention of a closure order.

He was given an eight-week suspended sentence, suspended for 12 months.

Court documents say this was because there "had been wilful and persistent failure" to comply with his community order,  and the "defendant has a flagrant disregard for court orders."

A police spokesperson added that he was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £156."

The closure order for this property, Argyle Street, was issued by Swindon Magistrates on October 23, under section 80 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. 

Closure orders are used in a number of circumstances, either where the occupants of the address are causing a nuisance to neighbours, or to help protect vulnerable people at risk of being taken advantage of by drug dealers who use their property as a base to deal drugs, known as cuckooing.