Hainault: Man with sword held after public and police attacked in east London

A witness to the incident in Hainault said he heard shrieking at about 07:00 BST, before witnessing a man dressed in yellow jumping over some fences.

The man, who asked not to be named, told PA news agency: “I heard shouting, I heard shrieking – I thought ‘who would be shrieking at this time in the morning?’

“The shrieking sounded like the police – you know when they are ordering someone to stop or to get on their knees or something – it was like that.

“It was like ‘stop where you are, put that down, put that down’ – that kind of thing.

“I looked out the back window because the noise was coming from back there, I saw a bloke dressed in yellow jumping over some fences… then he went down an alley like he was going back onto the street again.

“I saw a policeman and policewoman – normal coppers with the short-sleeved shirts – who chased after him and they were shouting for him to put it down.”