Pistol found at scene of Yorkshire siege

Police have recovered an illegally owned 9mm self-loading pistol from the Yorkshire terrace house where a man was shot dead on Tuesday after an eight-hour police siege. Investigators from the Independent Police Complaints Commission revealed that their inquiry into the incident had been delayed by fears that Alistair Bell, 42, might have rigged his home in Kirkheaton, near Huddersfield, with homemade explosives. Bell, who had been jailed for nine years for violent offences and illegal ownership of a shotgun, was shot by a police marksman after repeatedly firing at officers during a night-long standoff. His house was surrounded late on Monday night after unarmed officers called about alleged threats against neighbours. A 29-year-old constable was shot in the back during the siege, but saved from serious injury by his anti-stab vest. Bell was shot dead at 5.30am after a renewed volley of shots. Firearms specialists are checking the home of a neighbour whose house was hit by three bullets fired by Bell. Roger Thistlethwaite, 71, a retired engineer, said that bullets lodged in the walls of his home, fewer than 100 yards from Bell's house, while he watched TV on Monday night. One passed about 2ft above his head after smashing through a window and splintering his living room door. A second bullet hit a drainpipe while a third was embedded in pointing on his outside wall. Another neighbour in Cockley Hill Lane, on the edge of the village of Kirkheaton, said a ricocheting round appeared to hit another officer while he fixed a spotlight on top of a wheelie bin. A spokesman for the IPCC said that only one officer had been injured, and no explosives were found in Bell's house. The local Labour MP, Barry Sheerman, is asking West Yorkshire police why unarmed officers were sent to question and possibly arrest Bell, given his violent record. Andrew Stancliffe, a neighbour who was at school with Bell, said that police had shown restraint during the siege. Bell was repeatedly urged to lay down his weapon and give himself up, he said.