A MAN was seriously ill in hospital last night following a house siege earlier in the day.

Police were called to a home in North Way, Throckley, near Newcastle, at 7.25am, after reports raising concern for the well-being of a 40-year-old man.

Police later said the man, who has not been identified, had taken pills and barricaded himself in a bedroom, armed with a knife.

Trained police negotiators spent two-and-a-half hours trying to talk him out of the house, before police forced entry and paramedics took him to Newcastle General Hospital.

He was later transferred to the city's Freeman Hospital, where his condition last night was described as poorly.