ARMED police were involved in a siege lasting more than nine hours at a North-East hospital yesterday.

Officers were called to the South Tyneside General Hospital at about 4.30am yesterday, when a man refused to come out of the building.

A police spokesman said: "At the time, the man was believed to be in possession of a firearm.

"A 57-year-old man has since been arrested for a public order offence.

"No other person at the hospital was in any danger during the incident and no one else was involved."