POLICE spent 12 hours talking a man down from a York hospital roof.

The tense stand-off began at 6.10pm yesterday when a man, who was in his 30s and not local, climbed on to the roof of Bootham Park Hospital. Police said the man had gone to the hospital voluntarily yesterday.

A team of officers, including a trained negotiator, an inspector and a dog unit, were stationed at Bootham Park, trying to coax the man off the roof. Two officers climbed on to the top of the hospital as negotiations with the man continued. A police spokesman said the man spent some of the hours pacing around the roof, and was also threatening to hurl himself to the ground.

Police eventually succeeded in bringing the man down at 5.15am.

He was today in police custody, and was due to see a doctor today.

Sergeant Rick Hall, of North Yorkshire Police, said: "All the police officers at the scene were very professional and, together with the negotiator, we were able to take the man of the roof and bring this incident to a successful conclusion."

Updated: 10:37 Friday, March 11, 2005