NAKED women spotted in Old Heath Road, Colchester prompted a four-hour police search.

Passers-by saw the drunken women and called Essex Police.

Officers detained one of them, aged 17, a short time later. She was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and taken into police custody.

Her friend, aged 21, went on the run.

The police helicopter was scrambled along with a dog handler and around 12 officers to search for her.

An Essex Police spokesman said: “It transpired that a group of young women had been drinking alcohol on Wednesday at 10pm and had left the house naked as part of a joke.

“However, passers by became concerned for their safety and contacted us.

“We managed to secure the safety of one girl who was in a terrible state.

“We then spent over four hours searching for the other young woman who had run off.

“This incident took up valuable police resources, especially use of the police helicopter.”

The second girl at a nearby house, and was clothed, on Thursday at 3am.

Essex Police said no action has been taken against either of the women.