A MAN has been charged after a police stand-off which spanned nearly 10 hours in the Hunter Valley last week.
The alleged siege was sparked at about 1.30am on Friday, August 16, when officers attended a Wollombi Road property at Millfield.
Police were told at the scene that a man had allegedly barricaded himself inside the house.
A perimeter was established - with dozens of people told to leave their houses, Millfield Public School closed to students temporarily and businesses shuttered - before the man was arrested without incident at about 10.30am that morning.
Police confirmed a 36-year-old man was taken to Cessnock Police Station, where he was later charged with two counts of contravening an AVO, stalking or intimidating, using a carriage service to threaten to kill, and intimidating a police officer in execution of their duty.
He was refused bail to face an out-of-sessions court hearing on the weekend, where he was sent for a medical assessment.
The police response to the incident involved tactical officers in an armoured BearCat vehicle deployed from Sydney, police rescue specialists, the dog squad and uniformed officers.
Multiple ambulance and firefighting crews were also tasked to the scene.
Another nearby resident, Ben Dederer, told the Newcastle Herald he had been asleep at about three o'clock in the morning when he heard police out the front.
"We've come out to maybe 10 cop cars and say about 3.30, the SWAT team came," he said.
He said there were about 30 officers and they moved on the house "down the road" from him, eventually taking a man away later that morning.
"They've done a little sweep of the house," he said.
