A 41-YEAR-old man was arrested after threatening his partner with a gun in Norton at the weekend.

Armed police sealed off the home on Langton Road at about 1am on Sunday while trained negotiators tried to coax the distressed man from the property.

It took experts four hours to tempt the man from the house, and he was then arrested.

Neighbours spoke of their fear after waking in the early hours to armed police blocking off residential streets.

One man, who did not want to be named, said he was ordered to go back inside by an officer carrying a gun.

He said: “I went outside to see what was happening at about 3am and there were armed police and dogs everywhere.

‘‘It was quite a scary experience and you just don’t expect something like this to happen literally on your door step. The officer told me to go back inside and you don’t argue with a man holding a gun.”

Neighbours said the couple at the centre of the siege have a baby and moved to the area about a year ago.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said the man had since been released on bail while officers carry out an investigation.

He said: “Police were called to a property on Langton Road in Norton following reports of a disturbance involving a man threatening a woman with a firearm.

‘‘As a result an armed response unit tried to contain the house and the woman was unharmed. At 5.20am a 41-year-old man was arrested and has been released on police bail pending further inquiries.”