Five-hour-long London shop siege ends

A man, who threatened to blow himself up after barricading himself in a central London shop overnight, has been arrested following a five-hour stand-off with the police.

Large parts of central London remained closed to commuters on Thursday morning as the police aimed to ensure there was no threat to the public following the siege, which ended at 5.15 am (local time) on Thursday, The Telegraph reports. 

The police were called to the shop in Regent Street around midnight after an intruder broke into the store, setting off a security alarm. When they arrived, the man inside held up signs warning that he had explosives and made threats to harm himself. 

Officers then surrounded the building and cleared the surrounding area, which includes Regent Street, parts of Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus, while they tried to make contact with the man. He eventually gave himself up and is now in the metropolitan police's custody. It is not known whether he had explosives with him or not.