A MAN who locked himself in his Flookburgh home and threatened to kill himself has been detained under the Mental Health Act after an eight-hour armed stand-off.

The 36-year-old handed himself into police and medical staff after exchanging a series of paper messages with police negotiators yesterday from an upstairs window.

The man, who has not yet been identified, was said to have come out peacefully at around 3.50pm before getting into the back of an ambulance.

Eye witnesses have described him as skinny, with short, dark hair.

Local residents said they were shocked when armed police officers swooped on their village as they were waking yesterday morning.

Trapped neighbour Rachel Twist had to remain in her house for eight hours and was told by police not to open her front door or windows.

"I've never been involved in anything like this before it was quite a shock. I had armed police officers sat on my doorstep and could hear everything that was going on. I'm just glad its all over and no-one was hurt," she said.

Villagers trapped by the police road block also expressed their surprise at the scale of the operation which involved armed and unarmed police, police community support officers, police dogs, six marked police cars, three unmarked police cars, fire and rescue service vehicles and two ambulances at the scene in Main Street.

Schoolchildren at Flookburgh Primary School, which is close to the house, were picked up by parents on foot using a back country lane but six teachers living in Kendal and Barrow were trapped at the school until the seige ended.

Westmorland Gazette reporters on Main Street, Flookburgh, yesterday said the man dropped between nine and ten notes on pink and white paper from an upstairs window at the mid-terraced house.

These were picked up by negotiators and armed officers at the scene who posted messages back to him through his letter box.

Villagers earlier said they believed the man was armed with a chainsaw.

His girlfriend and mother were escorted to the safety of a nearby police car until the seige ended.

Police first cordoned off the road shortly before 8am on Friday morning.