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House siege ends with surrender

Katie Fitzpatrick and Alice McKeegan
6/ 9/2008

A MAN barricaded himself in a house for five hours and threatened to set it on fire.

He locked himself inside a house in Midge Hall Drive, Bamford, shortly before noon on Thursday, claiming to have petrol and intending to harm himself.

Police negotiators were called to the scene at 3pm in an attempt to persuade the man to leave the house peacefully.

But he refused to speak with anyone and neighbouring homes were evacuated as a precaution. He eventually walked out of the house on his own accord at 5pm and was arrested on suspicion of threats to cause damage.

Police officers, ambulance staff, fire crews and police helicopters were at the scene shortly after noon and remained on standby into the early evening.

At the height of the crisis residents from about 40 homes in Midge Hall Drive were given the option of being taken to Heywood Civic Centre by minibus. Some took up the offer and were given refreshments and offered a place to spend the night if necessary.

Bury Road between War Office Road and Sandy Lane was closed to traffic and pedestrians, as was Broadhalgh Road, which is on the other side of Bury Road from Midge Hall Drive.

Dance teacher Gemma Singleton, of Midge Hall Drive, was told to leave the home that she shares with her parents, Michelle and Jonathan, her grandparents Sylvia and Phillip, shortly after the emergency began.

She said: "The police said that a man had filled a house with petrol and was threatening to blow himself up. We haven’t been able to go back to the house since.

"Then at around 5pm they told us that we should start making arrangements to stay somewhere overnight just in case."

Another neighbour, who asked not to be named, told the Observer: "It was very frightening and extremely chaotic.

"Nobody was telling us what was happening, so it was worrying.

"We were given the option to be evacuated to Heywood Civic, but my girlfriend had to pick up our children from school so it was really difficult."

A spokeswoman for St Michael’s Primary School, in Bury Road, said that all 220 children were picked up from school more or less on time, despite the cordon and traffic diversions.

She said: "Most parents managed to pick the children up OK. We finish at 3.30pm and the last children left at about 3.55pm.

"Some people couldn’t get to their houses or to their cars because of the cordon so they made arrangements for other people to pick them up and parents rang to let us know."

Bamford Primary School headteacher Cherie Rivero said all of her pupils were picked up from school on time without any problems.

As the Observer went to press, police and firefighters were searching the property and a police cordon remained in place until the site was officially declared safe.

Most of the roads around the scene were reopened at 5pm, but traffic was heavy during rush hour.

A 53-year-old man has been arrested.

- POLICE were called to a petrol station in Bolton Road, Sudden after a man threatened to harm himself.

A 23-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of affray after he held two petrol pumps to his face at the Texaco garage, threatened to pour petrol on himself and set himself alight at 1.30am on Friday.

Staff immediately switched off the petrol pumps to prevent the man from harming himself.

Police, ambulance crews and firefighters were on the scene for half an hour.