Armed police were called to Ilkley to tackle a house siege involving a knife-wielding mental patient.

The drama began at noon last Friday when a 50-year-old man was reported to be refusing to leave a house in Brewery Road.

Police sent out teams of officers who spent hours trying to persuade the man, who had been on leave from a mental health hospital and failed to return, to come out.

But by 6.20pm he had begun threatening the occupants of the house with a kitchen knife and the street was sealed off. Police ended the stand-off by bursting into the building and overpowering the man.

Ilkley's Sergeant Esther Hobbs was thrown into the midst of the drama immediately after coming on duty at 5pm on Friday.

She said: "He became agitated and locked himself in the house and had knives with him, and he was refusing to leave. There were several hours of negotiation which failed and we were left with no option but to go in by force and restrain him.

"Nobody was injured. He was detained under the Mental Health Act and taken to Keighley Police Station, then transferred to where he should be.

"This was a major incident and we had assistance from the operational support unit, a dog unit on standby, the Keighley Division supervisors, and CID, as well as local officers.

"There were also armed officers at the scene but they had only baton rounds plastic bullets."

Quinton Smith, who lives close by, witnessed the incident at first hand and captured it on film.

He said: "I have lived in Ilkley all my life and I have never known anything like this. He was screaming and shouting as he was led to the van."

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said they believed the man had been suffering from a mental disorder.

"Police established that the suspect was armed with a number of large kitchen knives in one of the houses in the road and was threatening to assault and injure people.

"When officers tried to negotiate, similar threats were made to them. In order to preserve the safety of the public in the street armed officers gained entry to the premises and the man was arrested without injury to himself or officers.

"Two large kitchen knives were seized and the man was arrested under the Mental Health Act and for making threats to others."