Police surrounded a house in Worthing during a five-hour stand-off in which a man threatened to kill himself.

Negotiators tried to calm the distressed man and bring him out safely following a domestic dispute at a terraced house in Ruskin Road yesterday.

A team of six policemen in riot gear, an ambulance and a police dog waited outside the house during the negotiations as neighbours stood watching in the street.

After almost five hours of negotiation, officers decided to storm the house.

They carried the man, who was covered in blood from a cut in his neck, out into an ambulance which was backed up to the door of the house.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: "A man inside was threatening to harm himself and a number of officers were sent to the scene to try to bring him out safely.

"Just after 5pm, officers entered the house and the man was arrested. He was taken to hospital suffering from superficial cuts."