ARMED officers and a police helicopter searched addresses in Orford last night, Wednesday, after reports that a group of men were chasing girls with machetes.

Several officers attended the scene at Radley Park with police dogs at 9.20pm.

After a thorough search of the area was conducted, it has since been confirmed that the report was a hoax call.

A 17-year-old girl has identified in connection with the incident and is set to be questioned on suspicion of malicious calls and misuse of police time.

Chief Inspector Neil Drum, of Warrington Local Policing Unit (LPU) said: “Any hoax call is not acceptable and will not be tolerated in Cheshire.

"This is another example of a waste of time and resources for an incident that snatched critical services away from those who need them most.

“The time spent dealing with these wholly inappropriate calls impacts our ability to deal with genuine emergencies  - it can be the difference between life and death.

"If you are caught wasting police time you could face a six-month jail term."