A SIEGE at a house where a man was threatening to set fire to a can of petrol led to him being jailed for 12 months yesterday.

Two police officers found John Watson, 38, weeping on his sofa and flicking a cigarette lighter near a petrol can, Teesside Crown Court heard.

He resisted efforts to get him to part with the can, saying: "It's mine, and when I go up you'll all go up with me."

At the second attempt, PC Andy Bell snatched the can and ran into the garden with it, said Shaun Dodds, prosecuting. Watson then grabbed PC Jennifer Lumsdon by the throat. When he released his grip, she screamed and other officers rushed into the house and overpowered him.

Watson, who had three convictions for assaults on police, claimed he could remember little of the incident because he got drunk after his girlfriend walked out.

Watson, of Jasmine Crescent, Parkside, Seaham, east Durham, pleaded guilty to affray, two charges of assault with intent to resist arrest and resisting an officer on June 21 last year.

John Graham, mitigating, said: "Watson regrets that he has caused distress to the officers. He said he had filled the can half full with water. It was a stupid cry for help. He now has a new partner and he wishes to make a new start.