Riot police storm family siege house

Police today stormed a house in Brixton where a 36-year-old woman was holding her three children hostage.

Officers wearing riot gear battered down the front door of the woman's home in Coldharbour Lane more than 21 hours after the siege started.

It began when police tried to arrest her at 9am yesterday after she failed to attend a court hearing on charges of arson.

The woman threatened officers with a knife and barricaded herself in with three sons, aged 14, nine and seven. Police feared the woman might turn on her children after a previous alleged attempt to set fire to her house with the children inside.

A large section of Coldharbour Lane was closed off and at 5.35am today, about 12 officers burst into the building while the woman was sleeping. She has been taken away for questioning and her children are being looked after by family members.

Superintendent Rick Algar said: "We came to the conclusion that she was probably asleep." Neighbours said the woman was known to have a history of mental illness.