THE man who sparked a massive armed siege at a York house declared today: "I'm no monster."

David Roustoby was speaking after he was bailed without charge, following six hours of questioning at Fulford Road Police station.

The University of York campus worker triggered a five-hour siege yesterday after police received a report that he was armed and inside a house off Windmill Lane, in Heslington.

A dramatic stand-off with nine armed officers ensued.

Following his peaceful surrender and subsequent release from custody, Mr Roustoby revealed he booked himself into a B&B when he was released from police custody because he was too "embarrassed" to go home. He added: "It's been a long day for everyone and I could do with a bit of space now.

"What the neighbours saw in their eyes would be me doing wrong, and I feel bad for that." He said the replica weapon had been locked in a safe for three months but he "naively" took it out to show his partner's 16-year-old son, saying he felt safer in their home with the replica there.

Defending his decision not to come out of his house earlier, he said: "I offered three times to hand it out or throw it on the floor. But they wanted me outside."

He said he wanted to get dressed and eat breakfast before surrendering - then "stubbornness" took over.

"I felt very strongly and had done nothing wrong. It's perfectly legal to buy something like this...providing you do not use it in an offensive manner."

His partner, who did not wish to be named, said Mr Roustoby wanted to apologise to neighbours for what had happened, and thanked neighbours and relatives who had given her support during the last 24 hours.

She said she had not known the replica gun was in the house, and left with her children when she found out about it, and because Mr Roustoby had been drinking.

She said he had been fighting a battle against a binge drinking habit for many years, and had been doing well over the last two to three years.

Mr Roustoby said he had been bailed to reappear at York Police Station so tests could be carried out on the replica. He was not planning to buy a replacement, and added: "I wish now I'd never got it."

Police last night confirmed a 29-year-old had been released on bail pending further inquiries.

Drama at end of a phone line, by Alex Lloyd

IT SEEMED to be an average call from a member of the public when deputy news editor Andrew Hitchon put David Roustoby through to my extension at about 11am yesterday.

I wrote his name down and asked him what he could tell me. He replied: "I'm sat in my house and I've got about nine police officers pointing guns at me."

It's not often as a reporter that you get to speak to someone at the centre of a big story while it's taking place, so I tried to stay as calm and friendly as I could to make sure he would keep talking.

For someone responsible for an armed siege, he was surprisingly honest and chatty. He asked me what he should do and I said "go out and get it over with". I told him to talk to the police and his solicitor, who had just arrived. I was pleased to hear that he gave himself up peacefully shortly afterwards - the story would not have been so professionally satisfying if someone had been hurt.

Updated: 09:54 Wednesday, November 03, 2004