RIOT police surrounded a city house during a tense three-hour siege, after a man thought to be wielding a knife and threatening to douse himself in flammable liquid barricaded himself inside.

More than 30 officers carrying riot shields and guns and some using specialist trained dogs surrounded the property named ‘The Madhouse,’ during the dramatic stand-off.

Fire crews and an ambulance also attended the scene in Green Lane, Millbrook, Southampton, after it was feared that the man could potentially suffer serious injury.

Police had been called to the property at around 4.30pm on Sunday following a 999 call reporting a disturbance. A further allegation was made that a man had allegedly assaulted a woman at the address.

Dozens more officers from the Force Support Unit and firearms squad were called in as back-up after the 47-year-old man, who the Daily Echo is not naming for legal reasons, refused to come out or talk to police.

Eyewitnesses told how they believed he used a large fridge freezer to block the door and stop anyone entering.

Part of the road was closed and a police cordon was quickly erected as a large crowd of more than 100 local residents gathered on a field opposite to see what was happening.

Net curtains of neighbouring properties also twitched, while some peered out of their windows to watch events unfold from the safety of their homes.

On the road outside the property a red BMW, understood to belong to the occupants of the house, was parked up while a silver Peugeot 206 sat on the grass verge at the side of the house.

One witness said police had already visited the house earlier in the week.

The man, who did not want to be named, said: “The police were here on Wednesday, whether that was in connection with what’s happening now I don’t know.

“My son was around the corner walking home but they wouldn’t let him walk past the house, so they obviously think it’s unsafe to go anywhere near it.”

Another onlooker added: “It’s just like a scene from Shameless.

“You just don’t expect to see anything like this happen around here. It really is more like the Chatsworth estate than Millbrook.

“It doesn’t feel real at the moment.”

As the tension mounted, rumours circulated around the estate that the man was armed with a knife and acid, or a gun, with some speculating that he had doused himself in petrol.

Police and negotiators made their way to the front door of the house at 5.30pm, in an attempt to talk the man downstairs.

As rain began to fall, residents fixated to the drama returned to their cars and parked as close as they could to the cordon, in a bid to escape the cold and wet conditions.

Police were eventually able to speak to the man, who is from the Portsmouth area, and calm him down, before a team of armed officers entered the house at around 7.15pm.

They left ten minutes later with the man under arrest under suspicion of assault and loaded him into the back of a police van.

Chief Inspector Steve Wakeford said: “It’s difficult to give the full details of what’s happened because it needs investigating, but ultimately there was a man inside the house who we needed to speak to regarding an allegation of assault.

“Unfortunately, the way events turned out it took a lot longer for us to actually speak to him and in the end we had to go in and take him out of the premises as opposed to him coming out voluntarily.

“There was a suggestion that there was a hostage situation but this was not the case. There was only a lone man inside the building,”

he added.

“He was not injured in any way and did not injure anyone else or himself.”

Chief Inspector Wakeford added: “We do not know the full background at this stage so we cannot confirm or deny whether he lives in the property.

“When anyone is in a house like this and are in a position that if we go in they could be injured, we try to get them to come out of the house.

“On this occasion, we took the decision to go into the house and we found him in the bedroom.”

A police spokesman last night said there was nothing to suggest a risk to the community in Green Lane as a result of the incident.

Police safer neighbour teams will be patrolling the area to provide reassurance to residents.

The man remains in custody at Southampton central police station.