Gunman arrested after bank hostage crisis

A gunman was arrested today after holding three women hostage at a bank just a few hundred yards from Buckingham Palace.

The armed siege at the HSBC branch in Buckingham Palace Road, central London lasted more than two hours after what was believed to have been a botched robbery attempt.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Trotter said the gunman was found hiding inside the building by a police sniffer dog.

The three women employees inside the bank were safe and well.

He added: “A dog handler from the Metropolitan Police’s armed unit went into the building.

“Police then searched the building and a suspect was found and arrested and taken to a police station.

“Three women in the building have now been released unharmed and we are now talking to them.

“We are conducting a search of the building to see if there is any other evidence.”

Describing what had happened the senior police officer said: “The dog gave an indication of where he was and he was arrested.”

Eyewitnesses described how the siege began shortly before noon after a Securicor van pulled up outside the bank.

A man then went into the bank brandishing a handgun and jumped the counter, taking four members of staff hostage.

Police were on the scene within minutes and a second man, who was black and appeared to be in his 20s, was arrested outside the bank and bundled into a van.

Witnesses said up to 30 armed police were on the scene, including several on rooftops.

A top-level hostage negotiator was also called in, as were police dogs.

Armed and plainclothes police were seen huddled behind one of a dozen police cars studying plans of the bank, fuelling speculation they may storm the building.

A wide area around the bank, at the junction of Buckingham Palace Road and Victoria Street, was cordoned off. The bank is also just a few hundred yards from Scotland Yard.

Some workers were trapped in their buildings and there was traffic chaos.

One eyewitness described the moments following the attempted robbery and told how a security officer held down one of the suspects outside the bank.

Peter Holbrook, 50, a customer services assistant from the tour firm The Big Bus Company whose offices are across the road from the bank said: “Somebody yelled out there was a robbery going on across the road and me and two other colleagues went to have a look and saw a security guard dive on a young guy that was running out of the bank.

“He had him on the floor pinned down and two other members of the public came over to help him.

“Within about seven to eight minutes we had dozens of police around the bank.

“We were apprehensive. We were told by police to go indoors and keep away from the windows and we could see around 20 officers armed with rifles walking around.

“We could see officers on the roof of our building reflected in the windows of the building across from us.”

Jerry Moretto, manager of a bar opposite the bank and inside the police cordon, said: “There were armed police positioned at various points around the building and it looked like a stand-off.

“We were told to keep inside and we had a couple of armed police in the doorway.

“About 11.45am suddenly there was a lot of activity and a lot of armed police running around, I saw about a dozen of them.”

Another eyewitness said: “I saw at least 20 armed police go rushing down the road towards the bank.”

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: “The man inside the building was thought to have been armed with a handgun. We believe the man’s motive was to rob the bank.

“Evacuations took place both in the building and surrounding buildings.

“A number of roads were cordoned off, including the top half of Victoria Street and Buckingham Palace Road.

“Hostage negotiators, armed response vehicles and ambulance were at the scene.

“The man is in custody and there were no injuries.”