Neighbours caught up in siege drama

Published on Saturday 25 July 2009 11:07

NEIGHBOURS today described how police negotiators convinced a man armed with a machete to surrender following a three-hour siege.

Armed police were called to the ground floor flat in Roxburgh Street, just off the Pleasance, after a call from a terrified woman yesterday lunchtime.

More than 25 officers sealed off the street while the man remained inside his flat amid fears he would take his own life with ambulance paramedics also in attendance.

Specialist negotiators were called in to deal with the situation and spent two hours talking to the man through his front door in the hope of ending the stand-off.

The incident unfolded just yards from St Leonard's Nursery School and the Salvation Army drop-in centre.

The siege was sparked by a domestic dispute which began at around 8am, with police called to the scene at 10am.

Residents said a man had been seen brandishing a machete before the police were called while a woman had been crying hysterically in the street.

The man finally surrendered to officers just after 1pm and was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

A 39-year-old man has been detained by police in connection with the incident.

Mary Gilhooley, 59, who lives in the flat directly above where the siege took place, said: "I heard shouting between the man and woman just after I woke up. I couldn't make out what they were arguing about.

"Then when I came out my door later on, there were police officers there. They told me to go back inside.

"I asked them if it was a bomb or something and they said someone had barricaded themselves in their flat with a machete.

"There was armed police with machine guns and shields in the doorway outside their front door and in the stairwell.

"The police negotiator was talking to him, calling his name and saying it was all right and they just wanted to talk. They kept asking him to move out where they could see him. I could hear him crying and saying his back was sore."

A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: "The police negotiator was trying to get a dialogue going with him. They kept asking him if he was OK. I don't think he was saying that much back to them.

"There were armed police right behind the negotiator so they were obviously taking it seriously."

Another resident said: "I heard the couple shouting at each other this morning and I thought it was a domestic.

When I came back from the shops she was crying and shouting in the street.

"A few minutes later the police arrived. Someone told me the man had been seen in the street waving a machete about before going back inside his flat."

Police sealed off both Roxburgh Street and Adam Street during the operation, with residents living inside the cordon asked not to leave their homes while it was ongoing.

Officers with stab-proof vests on finally entered the housing association flat and led the man out to a waiting police van.