A man was today arrested in connection with the murder of traffic policeman PC Ian Broadhurst and the attempted murder of two of his colleagues.

Police were called to an address in Northumbria at about 2am after a tip-off.

A man in his late 30s, believed to be former nightclub doorman Nathan Coleman, was arrested in connection with the murder of PC Broadhurst, 34, and for the attempted murders of PCs Neil Roper and James Banks on Boxing Day.

Married PC Broadhurst, 34, of Cookridge, Leeds, died after he was shot by a man who had been sitting in the back of his police car in Dib Lane, Oakwood, Leeds.

His colleague, PC Neil Roper, 45, was shot twice by the gunman and is still recovering in hospital.

A third officer, PC James Banks, 26, was also shot at but the round ricocheted off his radio belt and baton buckle.

The shootings happened after PC Broadhurst and PC Roper approached a stolen BMW in Dib Lane.

They placed the driver in the back of their patrol car and PC Roper was about to handcuff him when he produced the gun.

On Monday, murder squad detectives took the unusual step of naming US-born Mr Coleman, 37, as the man they were wanting to question in connection with the shootings.

Yesterday they revealed that he had been taken in a taxi to Bradford only hours after the shooting. He was reportedly seen in Bradford city centre on Saturday and in Brighouse town centre on Monday afternoon.

Last night York railway station was sealed off because of another possible sighting.

The station was closed as armed police searched trains and platforms for Mr Coleman following a tip-off from a flower seller.

After almost three hours the station was reopened. North Yorkshire Police later said it was too early to confirm whether the sighting was genuine.

The arrested man was today expected to be transferred from Northumbria to West Yorkshire for questioning by murder squad detectives, said a police spokesman.

The murder inquiry is being led by Detective Superintendent Chris Gregg with a team of 50 officers.

Police are also carrying out forensic tests on a quantity of home-made bullets and machinery for making ammunition which was was found during a raid on a self-storage unit in Leeds after a tip-off

to see if there was any link between the rounds recovered and those used in the shootings.