A rare lunch break for hard-working press photographer Julian Hughes proved short-lived – when six men were dramatically arrested by armed police right in front of him.

Julian, chief photographer at the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, had just sat down for a quick cappuccino when the unique photo opportunity unfolded outside Caffe Nero, and he quickly grabbed his camera.

Armed police arrested six men outside the HSBC Bank in Huddersfield town centre’s Cloth Hall Street, after receiving reports of a robbery.

And being in the right place at the right time meant Julian was able to capture all the action – resulting in a poster-style front page with more pictures inside.

Julian said: “I rushed outside with my camera to see three youths, face-down and handcuffed on the ground with a police marksman covering them.

“I just started snapping, like you do. Minutes later, it was all over.”

Cruelly, Julian then returned to the cafe hoping to finish off a now-lukewarm cuppa – only to find his coffee had been cleared away!

Julian said: “Seriously, it was a great stroke of luck that I just happened to be directly across the road when the drama unfolded.

“Even if we’d got onto the story straight away, it would have taken those vital few minutes for a photographer to get to the scene – and we’d have probably ended up with ordinary photos of just the police cordon.”