West End Tottenham Court Road siege man ‘had fake bomb and a noose’

A man who brought terror to central London on Friday was allegedly armed with a home-made flame thrower, it emerged today.

He had a fake bomb made up of batteries and wires strapped to his chest.

He was also carrying a rope and noose and told staff that they owed him money.

Police set up a 300-metre evacuation zone around the offices of lorry driver training company AdvantageHGV in Tottenham Court Road. Snipers were positioned on rooftops and police negotiators were brought in.

Sources today suggested that the man who had stormed the office had held a grievance against the company since failing one of its HGV training programmes last year.

There were 12 staff in the office at the time and four were detained for about 40 minutes while the others were released or ran away.

A suspect was arrested and later assessed by a doctor at a police station to be fit to be detained and interviewed.

Meanwhile in a two minute hearing at Highbury Corner magistrates’ court today Michael Green, 48, of Stevenage, was remanded in custody.

He is accused of possession of a weapon for the discharge of a noxious liquid/gas or electrical incapacitating device, false imprisonment, making a bomb hoax, causing criminal damage and recklessly endangering life.

There was no application for bail and no indication of his likely plea. Michael Solano, chairman of the Magistrates’ bench, said: “This matter has been remanded to Blackfriars crown court for trial which will take place in due course.

“In the meantime there will be a plea and case management hearing at that court on July 24.”