Sound of power tools at '˜body' hunt garden

Officers are working to dig up the garden after receiving reports a body may be buried there.

Their ‘painstaking’ effort – which saw forensics experts erect tents and clear the overgrown garden before they started digging – has entered its fourth day.

One neighbour said: “From the noise, I thought they were taking the tents down but when I looked out the window they were still up.

“You can hear power tools, and what sounds like a concrete breaker.”

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said there have been no significant developments at the semi-detached house, which was boarded up after its last tenant left months ago.

There has not been any find so far that indicates a crime has taken place, the spokesman said.

The Gazette has asked for a further update.