WITNESSES have spoken about the dramatic moment when armed police arrested an absconded prisoner in a town centre.

Office workers watched in amazement as nine police cars forced a van to stop just outside the centre of Darlington, on Wednesday afternoon.

The officers, carrying automatic weapons, ordered a man out of the vehicle at gunpoint and took him into custody.

Throughout the proceedings, a police helicopter kept a bird’s eye view on the unfolding drama.

The 39-year-old man, who is from the Darlington area, is believed to have been released on licence from HMP Moorland, an open prison near Doncaster, earlier in the year.

However, he failed to return and police were alerted.

Police tracked the man as he drove through Darlington before officers swooped to arrest him.

It was thought the man may have been in possession of firearms and so the use of armed officers was authorised.

The action took place yards from the offices of BiB insurance, in Northgate.

Receptionist Patricia Witty said: “We heard the sirens and we thought it was just a speeding motorist at first, you often get them coming up the road.

“Then we heard all the kerfuffle coming from outside and we went to see what it was. I’ve never seen anything like it. People were coming out of the council offices across the road and the police were shouting at them to get back. They got the man down on the ground and handcuffed him. It was like something from the TV.”

IT manager Paul Littleton, who videoed the incident on a mobile phone, said: “We heard the police helicopter overhead and it was really low and very loud.

“I thought, ‘that’s close’ and looked out of the window and saw the police coming off the roundabout.

“I didn’t know what they were doing and then I saw the guns and I thought it was pretty serious.

“They were banging their muzzles against the windscreen and ordering him to get out.”

A police spokesman said: “We received intelligence suggesting a prisoner, who had absconded from HMP Moorland, in Doncaster, was in the Darlington area and was driving a red van.

“The vehicle was located and followed through a number of locations, including Parkside, Victoria Road, Polam Hall School, St Cuthberts Road and St Cuthberts Way on the inner ring road. It was then stopped shortly before 4pm, near Gladstone Street, and the driver, a 39- year-old Darlington man, was arrested.

“After being initially held at the police station, he was transferred back into the care of the prison service.”