A knife-wielding fugitive sparked a six-hour police siege 40ft above a residential street.

A middle-aged man in shorts picked his way along a narrow third-floor ledge on a terraced row in Hove, breaking in and out of people’s flats and briefly arming himself with a six-inch blade.

He spent five hours in one flat window before police negotiators finally talked him off the ledge at about 3.45pm.

Throughout the drama in St Aubyns, opposite King Alfred Leisure Centre, crowds of onlookers and dozens of emergency workers watched the man climb in and out, smashing glass and shutters, smoking cigarettes and keeping himself warm in a blanket.

A 50-year-old was arrested on suspicion of burglary, criminal damage and assaulting a police officer. Last night he was still being held in police custody.

Chief Inspector Neil Moscrop, who ran the Sussex Police operation, said: "I am pleased that this incident was brought to a peaceful resolution, with no harm caused to the man, officers or members of public.

“We would sooner spend time getting a conclusion like that than have someone getting hurt.

“I would like to thank the local residents of St Aubyns who have been particularly patient during this incident and especially those who allowed officers access to their homes as we looked to draw this matter to a close."

The drama began at about 9.15am when police were called to Vallance Gardens in Hove after someone was seen running through back gardens.

The man then went into a building in Kingsway and broke into a first floor flat.

He emerged from a seafront window and scaled the building up to the third-floor ledge, then worked his way around the bay windows of the terraced houses at the bottom of St Aubyns.

As he went he forced or smashed windows to grab belongings from inside the flats.

Anoush Eshghi-Pour, 45, spotted the man as he arrived at work at Cheetahs Gym.

He said: “He jumped from one balcony to the next. He had been sizing it up for a while.

“He smashed a window and took out a bottle of water. He was grabbing the TV aerial lines to try to climb up onto the roof.”

The man then got into another flat, shared by children’s nurse Michelle Connor and her partner Mark Odlin, who was inside at the time.

Mr Odlin, 32, was ushered out of his flat by police as the man got inside and took a carving knife from the kitchen.

He said: “We never thought being this high up security would be an issue.

“I was stuck in the stairwell for a couple of hours.

“The police officers were talking to him but couldn’t get a name out of him.

“He was just swearing and grunting.”

Miss Connor, 28, had just returned from a night shift at a London hospital.

The man had dragged the table onto the ledge to try to stand on it in his bid to climb onto the roof.

She said: “I came home to find the street cordoned off. The guy was sitting on my window-ledge. I phoned my partner hysterical.”

The man then climbed into a flat where Edward Shipsey, 23, was asleep.

Mr Shipsey said: “I was woken up by a noise which turned out to be him opening my window from the outside.

“He pushed open the shutters. I saw the guy standing in the window holding a knife.

“He dropped the knife onto the bed and leaned in.

“I think he said, ‘Oh, sorry’.”

Throughout the day crowds gathered on Kingsway outside the Texaco garage to watch the police operation unfold.

As the man sat in the window police in body armour waited in the surrounding flats and armed officers were brought in.

Fire engines were standing by to use ladders to raise police negotiators to the window-ledge if they were needed, while ambulance crews and police dog units were also at the scene.

As the day progressed the man accidentally cut himself several times on broken glass and wrapped himself in a blanket before negotiators, led by Detective Chief Inspector Adam Hibbert of the major crime branch, talked him inside.