TWO men and a woman forced their way into a house after they had told the occupant they needed to enter due to a gas leak.

Police have arrested one suspect after they received a report of the incident at a man's address in Wrigley Road, Haydock on Sunday morning.

It was reported at around 8.45am that two men and a woman had approached the property and informed the victim that they needed to gain entry due to a gas leak.

The suspects were then reported to have forced entry to the property, searched the house and taken paperwork from one of the rooms.

They were reported to have left the scene in a silver Citroen C3 car.

The victim was uninjured but left "extremely shaken" by the incident, police said.

Officers attended and CCTV, forensic and house-to house enquiries were carried out.

Following enquiries, police found and arrested a 34-year-old woman from Warrington on suspicion of robbery today, Monday, January 10.

She has been taken into custody for questioning.

Police say the investigation remains ongoing to locate the two other suspects and anyone with any information is asked to contact police.

Detective Inspector Barbara Hebden said: "To target someone in their home in this way is utterly despicable and we are doing all we can to find those responsible and bring them to justice.

“While we have made one arrest, our enquiries continue to find the two further suspects and we would encourage anyone in the Wrigley Road area yesterday morning who saw anything or anyone suspicious to come forward.

“We launched a dedicated operation, Operation Castle, in 2018 to reinforce our commitment to tackling burglaries in the region which has led to year-on-year reductions in burglaries across Merseyside, sparing many residents the pain of being subjected to a burglary.

“As part of our efforts to bring offenders to justice and prevent further burglaries, offenders have been jailed for more than 500 years in total, and our pursuit of those who violate the privacy of people’s homes in this callous way will continue.

“Key to us putting offenders behind bars is information from our communities so, please, come forward and tell us what you know and we can take action.”