A man arrested after a five-hour stand-off with police, during which he was barricaded in the loft space of a terraced house, has admitted charges arising from the incident.
Police were called to Auckland Terrace, Shildon, at 3pm on December 27, following a report of a man entering the property and locking himself into the loft.
Officers, assisted by a trained negotiator, attended the property and cordoned off the house as the man involved was suspected of being in possession of a knife.
The rest of the street was also blocked off to enable the police and the fire service to deal with the incident unhindered.
Several hours after it began, police confirmed the man involved had surrendered and was in custody.
Paul Anthony Kailofer, of Dalton Crescent, Shildon, was subsequently charged with having an article with a blade or point, a knife, during the incident, damaging property at the house in Auckland Terrace, plus threatening to damage or destroy property, by telling police he would cause further damage in the loft space.
When he appeared at an earlier hearing at Durham Crown Court, by video link from the city’s nearby prison, where he is on remand, the charges were not put to Kailofer as there were doubts over his fitness to plead, as it was said he had been receiving psychiatric treatment in the community.
The now 29-year-old defendant appeared back at court yesterday (Wednesday April 17), also by video link from HMP Durham, and the hearing was told the charges could now be put to him.
Kailofer duly pleaded guilty to all three counts.
His counsel, David Callan, told the court: “The history of this case was whether he was fit to plead.
“There is a psychiatric report which I have not yet seen.
“He was somehow behaving in a paranoid manner, at the time of the incident.
“There doesn’t seem to be any other reason for him to behave in that way.”
Judge Jo Kidd told Mr Callan: “His behaviour on that day was extremely strange and there needs to be a check to see if there were drink or drug issues, albeit with a background of psychosis.”
See more court stories from The Northern Echo by clicking here
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Judge Kidd asked for the psychiatric assessment to be accompanied by a background report on the defendant, prepared by the Probation Service, before the sentencing hearing.
She asked for the probation report to go before the court prior to May 10, when Kailofer will be sentenced.
In the meantime, Judge Kidd remanded him to remain in custody.
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