Apprentice star Joseph Valente says young member of staff sparked armed police raid at Peterborough apartment

Entrepreneur Mr Valente, who won the backing of Lord Sugar in the BBC Thee Apprentice in 2015, said the 19-year-old had been ‘messing about’ with a toy gun on the balcony of his apartment in East Station Road.

He said: “I was inside working at the time and the first I knew was when there was a knock at the door.

“I answered the door and was shocked to see armed police there. I thought they must have the wrong address.

“They came in and looked around before leaving and realised it was a false alarm. It was all over in a few minutes.

“They did take away the toy gun.

Armed officers attended the incident at 2.37pm yesterday after being alerted to a sighting of a man with a handgun.

Mr Valente, who set up his own construction industry mentoring business called Trade Mastermind and Coaching Academy after selling his plumbing business ImpraGas earlier this year, said: “I have a number of employees and we often work from my apartment.

“This was a misunderstanding. Two of them were messing about on the balcony.

“My employee, Jack, is very sorry for what has happened. He has been warned and he is still working with me.

“I guess someone in a neighbouring flats must have seen something and called the police.”

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire police said: “We were called at 2.37pm yesterday (13 July) with reports of a man with a handgun on the balcony of an apartment in East Station Road, Peterborough.

“Officers from the Armed Policing Unit attended the scene, where they discovered the firearm was a BB gun.

“They spoke to the man and gave words of advice about his conduct.

“The firearm was confiscated.”