AN army bomb disposal team was drafted in after police found chemicals stashed in the bedroom of a town house.

Police were called after reports that a man had armed himself with a knife and was acting in a disturbing way .

During a search of an end-terrace house in Hartlepool, chemicals were found in an attic room, and officers asked for support from the Army Bomb Disposal Team at Catterick, North Yorkshire.

The explosives experts spent an hour at the house before giving the all-clear yesterday afternoon .

Neighbours in Kilwick Street last night told of their shock at seeing the bomb disposal truck arrive on their doorstep,

One woman told The Northern Echo: "The bobbies had been there all morning but there is always something going on in this street and I didn't think anything of it.

"When the bomb wagon turned up I started to worry. When you see the word 'bomb' you just don't know what to think after what has happened in London."

A spokesman for Cleveland Police said: "Police went to a house in Hartlepool as their concerns were raised about the health of a person living there.

"Officers did come across what appeared to be chemicals and, as a matter of course, experts were brought in to examine them.

"That examination showed the chemicals were not a danger to the public."