RESIDENTS of a Lake District town were left bewildered after witnessing a stand-off between a man and armed police which lasted for several hours.

The man was eventually arrested 'on suspicion of offences including affray and threats to kill' following the incident in Windermere.

One resident who witnessed the scenes on the Droomer estate said: “They [police] just turned up one after another, after another, after another.

“They had the shields out, they had the guns out.

“This is Windermere. This is the Lake District. It’s classed as a low-risk area, but these things happen, whether you’re in a low-risk or a high-risk area.”

The man, who asked not to be named, said he had lived in Windermere all his life and had only ever seen armed police in the town during the heightened terror threat that followed high-profile terrorism incidents in the UK in 2017.

He said police blocked all of the roads in and out of the Droomer estate.

A spokesman for Cumbria Constabulary said police received a call at around 9am on Monday.

The spokesman said the call 'led to concerns for the welfare of a man at an address in Claife Avenue, Windermere'.

"Officers attended and a lengthy period of negotiation took place," he said.

"A man left the address just after 9pm and was subsequently arrested on suspicion of offences including affray and threats to kill.

"There was no threat to the wider public throughout the incident and nobody else was in the address at the time.

"Armed officers were deployed as a precaution."

The man who was arrested was in custody as of 1.15pm yesterday.