Police hunt hoax caller who panicked Hull

A man made an emergency call just before 8.30pm on Thursday claiming a man in a communal area in St Leonards Road was making threats to kill.

Armed police, dog handlers and the Humberside Police helicopter were deployed, while several roads in the Beverley Road area were cordoned off and diners at a nearby restaurant, Raj Pavilion, were told to stay inside.

All rooms in the accommodation in St Leonards Road were searched but neither the victim or the offender could be found.

Patrols were eventually stood down more than two hours later when the “victim” was located and was not aware of any incident.

Chief Insp Ed Cook said: “It turns out that nobody was ever at risk and no firearm was ever present, however, police have to treat threats such as this seriously until proven otherwise.

“Now a thorough investigation will commence into the source of the hoax call given the fear it caused to the general public and the significant amount of police resources used.

“Making hoax calls such as this and wasting police time is a serious offence that can lead to a prison sentence and we will now be making a very thorough investigation into this incident.”