A man at the centre of an armed siege made an extraordinary series of phone calls to the York Evening Press while police surrounded his city home.

He gave reporter Alex Lloyd the exclusive story behind the dramatic five-hour stand-off, which was sparked by reports he was armed inside the house.

But the man, who has a previous conviction for an incident involving a starter pistol, insisted he only had a replica with him, which was not illegal as long as it was not used in a threatening manner.

When the reporter asked why he was refusing to leave the house, he replied: "I don't know, call me Mr Stubborn, but I don't believe I have committed a crime.

"I don't want to be arrested and go down to the cops.

"I have told them several times that I am prepared to hand them the replica and let them in but they are not prepared to do that."

He told Alex: "It is perfectly legal to buy something like this and to own it, providing you have not used it in an offensive manner. It does look offensive, I admit, but it doesn't fire anything.

"I've got about nine police officers pointing guns at me. You would not believe it. I have the worst luck in the world."

He also asked her for advice on what to do next - and soon after ending the call, gave himself up peacefully.

Alex, (23), a reporter for two years who won her job with the Evening Press in a Write Stuff competition, said: "It's not very often that you get to speak to somebody at the centre of a major news story while it's actually happening so I felt extremely lucky.

"It was definitely one the strangest experiences I've had as a reporter.

"I told him to give himself up and I think he knew deep down it was the right thing to do."