Gunman who fled £1.5m country home after armed siege is jailed

A gunman managed to slip through a cordon of armed police laying siege to his family’s £1.5million country home and go on the run.

Officers were called to 18th century Marsham Hall, Norfolk, following an argument between Thomas Daniels-Poulis, 31, and his mother, Heather, a court heard.

Daniels-Poulis was spoken to through the door to his bedroom ‘in relation to an allegation of common assault and criminal damage’.

But officers then heard what they thought was ‘the cocking of a rifle or something similar’ and retreated down the stairs in a ‘moment of fear’ before he came out holding a gun in his hands, said prosecutor Kaja Reiff-Musgrove.

As one of the officers fetched a ballistic shield, Daniels-Poulis shouted ‘goading words’ at them, such as ‘Come on then’, and ‘Let’s not f**k about, you are big boys’, added the prosecutor.

Daniels-Poulis retreated inside the five bedroom house, shouting more threats and saying he was rigging the Grade II-listed hall with booby traps while putting on floodlights and shining torches at the faces of officers so they could not see what he was doing.

Ms Reiff-Musgrove said police treated it as ‘a siege operation’, and brought in additional armed officers after Daniels-Poulis refused to surrender.

Officers last spoke to him at 8.45pm and went on to carry out an ‘armed containment’ which was only stood down at 6.36pm the next day after a three hours search of the property confirmed he was no longer there, having slipped away through the estate ‘he knew well’.

Police found a CO2 powered air rifle with a magazine in a hedge beside the house, the court heard.

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'Gunman' who fled £1.5m country home after armed siege is arrested by police 140 miles away

The defendant, who was addicted to Class A drugs at the time, was arrested two days later when he was found 140 miles away by West Midlands Police in a pub near the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

He was jailed for 28 weeks at Norwich Crown Court on Friday after he earlier admitted a charge of using an imitation firearm with intent to resist arrest.

The court heard that the siege operation had used up ‘considerable police resources’ with officers at the scene including dog handlers and a negotiating team, along with a fleet of ambulances.

Mrs Daniels-Poulis described her son in a police statement as a drug addict who had never been able to hold down a job for long, although she later stated in a letter that he had a good work ethic.

Marc Brown, defending, said it was clear that his mother ‘still cares deeply for him’ while taking ‘a dim view of his conduct’.

Judge Anthony Bate told Daniels-Poulis that the initial incident at Marsham Hall had ‘quickly escalated’ after police arrived and had potentially become ‘very frightening and troubling’.

The judge added: ‘The police had understandable fears that you had armed yourself with a rifle. 

They were not to know that it was a gas-filled air rifle, and a siege situation ensued. Valuable and scarce resources from emergency services were wasted.

‘In fact, you had sneaked away from the house across the estate that you knew well, and you made off to the Midlands where you were found a couple of days later in Birmingham.

‘It was highly dangerous behaviour which could have had a tragic outcome... There was something of a manhunt, but they got their man in the end.’