A BLOCK of flats was cordoned off by police when a 30-year-old man threatened to throw himself off the roof.

The drama began when the man, a resident of one of the four-storey flats at Ceres Court, Murston, near Sittingbourne, began hanging out of an upper floor window, threatening to jump.

Insp Paul Dean, of Swale police, said the man then got into the roof of the flats and was threatening to throw himself off. Police negotiators were called, together with an ambulance crew and two fire pumps with a height ladder.

Insp Dean said the ladder was manoeuvred to the side of the flats and a police negotiator, with the help of firefighter John Rayer from Medway, was able to reach the man. After a struggle the man was taken to hospital in Gillingham where he was detained under the Mental Health Act.

Mr Rayer was later praised by police for his help. At one point during the three-hour drama, which began at 10.30pm on Friday, the man was seen hanging onto a chimney stack on the roof.