VILLAGERS have spoken of their shock at Tuesday afternoon’s dramatic events.
Sutton St James’s community stood and watched as emergency services and the media swamped the village as the armed stand-off unfolded in Chapelgate.
The usually quiet village became a no-go area as officers took maximum precautions during the incident, where Barry Horspool was understood to have been making threats with a gun.
Carole Taylor, who was caring for her nine-month-old grandson Joshua just a few doors away, first noticed something was wrong when she saw someone run past the kitchen window at the side of her house.
She said: “I locked the doors when I saw the shadow run past and when I went into the front room, I saw the police with guns outside and it was a bit of a shock.
“This is a lovely village and everyone is so friendly.”
But Carole could not stay in her home as police had asked. She had no food for Joshua and she needed to get him home to parents John and Nic, who live the other side of the village.
She alerted officers to her situation and they escorted her from the scene.
“They said they would knock on the door when they were ready,” she explained. “The police were brilliant. I cannot thank them enough.”
Fellow Chapelgate resident Tom Sutton said: “This is a quiet little village and there’s never a lot of trouble here.
“We really have everything that we want here. It’s a bit of a shock.”
Jeanette’s hairdressers decided to close for the afternoon on Tuesday as customers struggled to get through.
Owner Jeanette Kidd was still receiving calls to see if the road was clear.
She told the Spalding Guardian: “Everyone is in shock.”
JE Garner’s garage said some of their customers had also failed to arrive for MOTs as the siege took hold.
Carers for a number of elderly residents living on the street had also been unable to make their way through the road blocks.
One resident said the road closure in Chapelgate, which was still in place yesterday, had caused “total chaos”.
He said school buses, lorries and cars were being forced to make a three-point turn or reverse back the way they came.