Man with knife barricades himself into bedroom

Gardaí were involved in a near four-hour standoff with a man armed with a knife who barricaded himself into a bedroom in an apartment in a Co Cork town.

The incident was sparked when gardaí arrived at the apartment off the Bailick Rd in Midleton shortly after 8am yesterday, to serve a bench warrant on a man who is described as a foreign national.

Superintendent John Quilter said when gardaí arrived they were threatened by the man, who then barricaded himself into a bedroom. Unknown to gardaí at the time, he was armed with a knife.