Man charged after nine-hour stand-off
11.30am update: RESIDENTS in a Peterborough street were subjected to nine hours of fear yesterday when armed police swooped on a house after reports that a man had allegedly threatened to shoot bailiffs.
11.30am update: RESIDENTS in a Peterborough street were subjected to nine hours of fear yesterday when armed police swooped on a house after reports that a man had allegedly threatened to shoot bailiffs.Officers pointed guns at the house in Hartwell Way, Westwood, as trained negotiators were called to the scene after the man refused to come out.
Related:
Tuesday's breaking news as it happened and video from the scene.
Leaning from a top-floor window, he shouted demands as news of the siege spread through the area and worried residents left their homes to watch the drama unfold.
Police, believing the man inside could have a weapon, blocked off the street and shepherded next door neighbours away as firearms officers used their vehicles as shields.
Other people living nearby were told to stay inside their houses, but residents returning to their homes were kept back.
The incident began shortly after 8am yesterday, after worried bailiffs, who had tried to gain entry to the house, called police claiming they had been threatened.
When officers arrived, they found the front door of the house and the downstairs windows were still boarded up following an incident in July when a car had run into the building.
As the siege dragged on, the man demanded that a Big Mac meal and chicken nuggets be brought to the house.
As the crowd of onlookers grew throughout the day, some children climbed trees to get a better view of what was happening, and residents were providing tea and biscuits for those who were shut out of their homes.
Some people were complaining that their dustbins could not be emptied because the lorry could not get through the police cordon.
The lengthy stand-off eventually ended at 4.50pm, as the man emerged from the house with his hands above his head.
He walked out into the street and turned round before kneeling down where he was handcuffed and searched by armed police with a dog handler on stand-by.
On his arrest the street erupted with cheers and shouts from a 60-strong crowd.
As the man was driven away, a woman appeared at the upstairs window to speak to police. Armed officers then entered the house with a sniffer dog.
The woman then walked out and was arrested and driven away in a police car.
One man, who lives nearby, said: "I just got my family into the back room, shut the door and stayed there all day. I was worried sick for my baby. "
Another neighbour, Sheila Spence, said: "I never thought it could happen here. You see raids on TV, but never think it would be on your own doorstep."
Later, a 22-year-old man was charged under the Public Order Act with causing fear of unlawful violence and was bailed to appear at Peterborough Magistrates' Court on September 5. A 23-year-old woman was released without charge.
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Weather for Peterborough
Friday 19 March 2010
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