A man allegedly threatened to kill a woman with a chainsaw before ‘setting himself alight’ at a Hartlepool home.

Armed police rushed to the property on Saturday evening following reports of a ‘high-stakes’ domestic incident.

The woman was uninjured but the man sustained serious self-inflicted burns and was taken to hospital.

Officers say the man made ‘serious threats’ to kill before they used a baton round to ‘bring the incident to a conclusion’.

A spokesperson for Cleveland Police explained: ‘Police were called to an address in Hartlepool at around 7.20pm on Saturday to reports of a domestic incident in which a man with a chainsaw was making serious threats to kill another person in the property and harm himself.

‘Officers attended the scene and spoke to the man, who continued to make threats to harm himself, and during the incident he sustained self-inflicted serious burn injuries.

‘Trained firearms officers discharged an AEP, which is also known as a baton round, as a minimal force option to bring the incident to a conclusion.’

The spokesperson continued: ‘The man was arrested in connection with the incident and taken to hospital due to serious burns.

‘A referral has been made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct as a mandatory referral.’

Investigators were seen entering the house on Sunday, while a police van was outside and the house taped off.

One neighbour told Teesside Live: ‘It started about 7pm, first I knew of it was a load of blue lights.

‘The police vans were lined up along the road and the fire engines turned up.

‘Then the armed police came up the road and went into the house.’

Another said the emergency services told local residents to close their curtains and turn lights off.

A North East Ambulance Service spokesperson added: ‘We were called to a private address on Campbell Road in Hartlepool around 8.22pm (on Saturday) night.

‘We sent an ambulance and took one patient to hospital. For reasons of confidentiality we are unable to share further information.’

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