POLICE removed a man from a house after an armed siege in which a road was closed off.

Officers laid siege to the large detached house in Westcliff Drive, Leigh, in an operation involving firearms officers and police dogs.

The siege, during which Westcliff Drive was closed off between Westleigh Avenue and Percy Road, ended early on Satuirday when a 52-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault and false imprisonment.

Firearms and negotiations officers were sent to the house after a woman went to Southend Police Station on Friday evening to complain about a domestic incident.

Police believed there were firearms and other weapons in the house, so local officers were supported by an armed response unit.

Police confirmed a man had been arrested. Weapons had been removed from the house. He has been released, without charge, until September 4. It is understood no one else was in the house during the police stand-off.

Neighbours said police banged on the door of the house, on the corner of Westcliff Drive and Percy Road, at around midnight, calling for a man to come out.

An hour-long stand-off followed, during which officers continued to call to the man and shone torches on an upstairs room. At one point two officers trained weapons at the house from behind vehicles.

Officers carrying riot shields pushed out a side panel in the front door.

Eventually, the man came out of the house, which displays a For Sale sign, and was driven away.

A neighbour said: "The first I knew of it was when I spotted two officers behind bushes in someone's front garden, obviously keeping an eye on this house.

"Then police were banging on the door and calling things like 'We know you're in there'.

"When it ended, the man came out quietly, talking quite politely to the police as they put him in the back of an unmarked car.

"I don't know who lives in the house, but I have seen a woman a two children there. It is currently on the market."