A MAN was detained after armed police were called to a house in Sedgefield last night (Monday).

Officers were at the property in Boyne Court for about 45 minutes until 6.50pm.

A resident who lives near the house said around half-a-dozen police cars, some with armed officers onboard, descended on the road earlier in the evening.

He said he didn't see the end of the drama, but a neighbour had heard officers negotiating with someone inside the property.

"I was talking to a neighbour and he said he had heard someone shouting 'Are you coming out?' and then it was all over and they took him away in a car," he said.

The resident said he did not know the man at the centre of the incident and said he was surprised to see such a high level of police activity on the estate.

"It is a very, very, very unusual. It is one of the quietest estates in the village," he said. "They are all decent people here. There are no rag-tags at all."

Act Insp Avril Kelly, of Durham Constabulary, said deploying the armed officers had been the safest way of resolving the incident, which, she said, had ended peacefully.