FAMILIES were left dodging missles thrown from the roofs of nearby houses in two late-night incidents.

Residents in Ardwick Street, Burnley, had to seek cover when slates were thrown to the ground from 8pm on Saturday.

A Ford Escort was damaged and police cordoned off the area and called in the force helicopter.

At 10pm in an unrelated incident, slates, stones and guttering were thrown from the roof of a house in Travis Street after police were called to investigate reports of an aggravated burglary.

The missiles damaged a police car and a Mazda belonging to Matloob Shah, of Travis Street.

Both incidents ended at 3am on Sunday.

Saeed Chaudhury, a friend of Mr Shah, said: "Many of the families who live on Travis Street have young children and they were terrified by what was going on.

"One man came home from working in a take-away and his children were at the front window screaming but he couldn't get to them because the missiles were raining down.

"It was very frightening for the children and the women. The first thing we saw was when the slates started to come crashing into the street."

Mr Chaudhury said friends tried to get to the houses to make sure family members were all right but police told them to stay back because of the missiles being thrown into the street.

Det Insp Colin Barton said: "A lot of the houses in that area are rented so it has been difficult to trace owners. Damage is expected to be thousands of pounds and the council were called in yesterday along with structural engineers to check the houses over.

"At least 20 officers were called to deal with the incidents from stations in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale."

Three teenagers have been charged with criminal damage and public order offences and were due to appear before Burnley Magistrates today.

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