A MAN held police at bay after barricading himself in his bedroom and threatening to throw himself out of a window last night.

Police closed off Town Avenue, on the Bradley Mills Estate, at about 7.45pm. It stayed closed for several hours after the man climbed on to his upstairs windowsill.

The drama is thought to have been sparked by a row between the man, aged 39, and his girlfriend.

Police negotiators tried to talk the man down long in to the night. But in a bizarre twist he refused to talk to anyone but the Examiner.

However, police refused him this right until he came out of the house.

The drama ended when police stormed the house at 1am.

A knife was recovered from the house.

The man was arrested and taken to Huddersfield police headquarters, , where he will be questioned later today.

One onlooker said the rows had been going on throughout the day, but police were not called immediately.

He said: "The police shut off the street because he was shouting down to people who walked by."

Another neighbour asked police officers if he could go and talk to the man, to try and calm the situation, but was told he could not go any closer.

Taxis and takeaway deliveries were also stopped from going down the street.

Police took food to the people who had made the orders.

A police spokesman at the scene said officers were in the house with the man's girlfriend and he was only a danger to himself.