A 23-year-old man has been arrested in Bootle, Merseyside, after climbing onto a roof and forcing police into a three-hour stand-off on Tuesday night (19 April). According to one witness, the man told police "Get me 20 ciggies and a Domino's and I'll come down."

As reported by the Liverpool Echo, police arrived before 9pm on Tuesday after reports of a disturbance and a man on a roof. Onlookers were moved away as a precaution and the road was closed.

Some reported seeing items be thrown from the roof and the man drop his trousers while talking to the officers. He descended from the roof around 11.25pm and was arrested for affray and on suspicion of criminal damage and indecent exposure.

Merseyside Police confirmed the incident has taken place: "Patrols were called to a house on Peel Road at around 8.40pm to a report of a disturbance," and said he had been taken to a police station to be interviewed by police.

This is not an isolated incident in the area, with the number of men on rooftops prompting the Liverpool Echo to question "Why do men keep climbing onto roof tops in Merseyside?" A psychologist told the newspaper that the epidemic could be caused by the men having mental health issues, or possibly "it could be a power issue because they know once they get up there they're going to be commanding the police, who will have to go into critical incident management."

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