Armed cops lay siege to empty house for 10 hours

POLICE spent ten hours at a tense armed siege outside a house – that was empty.

A response unit of more than 150 officers attended the standoff at the home of suspected drug dealer Paul Hodge.

Police in riot gear and armed with assault rifles surrounded the semi-detached property in Smallfield, Surrey, when they suspected a gunman was inside.

Shortly after the early morning raid, three suspects were arrested, believed to be Hodge’s wife and two sons. She was reportedly overheard telling officers that her husband was not inside.

But police continued the siege and when the property was finally stormed hours later by seven armed officers and two negotiators in flak jackets it was found to be empty.

Bosses yesterday admitted they didn’t ‘know for certain’ if 57year-old Hodge had ever been in the house. Surrey Police said it was possible their suspect had managed to escape from the £350,000 property and is now on the run. A spokesman said: ‘It isn’t completely clear.

‘When we got in the house he wasn’t there. It’s still something we’re trying to analyse in the fullness of time.’

The force said it could not say how much yesterday’s bungled operation cost.

Officers refused to step down until 5.30pm, forcing residents to wait outside their houses behind a police cordon. One neighbour said: ‘Earlier when the wife came out she told police that he wasn’t in there.’ Others described the episode as a ‘complete joke’. One said: ‘They kept me out of my house for hours, all for nothing.’

Another added: ‘A stand-off with an empty house. What a joke.’