A man is receiving medical care following a four-hour police incident.

Emergency services, including police, fire and ambulance, were called to the Moor Row area at about 11am yesterday, following reports of concern for the welfare of a man.

The emergency response centred on a high external window ledge at a block of flats near Scalegill Road.

A resident in Scalegill Road said that she feared that a man had been in danger of jumping from the window of one of the flats in School Street.

Kay Todd, from Dalzell Street, was alerted to the incident after seeing a Facebook post and confirmed that a part of Scalegill Road had been cordoned off by police.

She said she had heard from neighbours that a young man was saying that he was going to jump.

A neighbour said he was driving to go and collect his wife and found that police had blocked the road.

He later claimed to have seen a man sitting on a ledge at least three levels up.

The neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: “I was concerned for him: it was a very long drop and he seemed to be very overwhelmed by everything that was going on.

"There were a lot of police vehicles and fire engines and he could see them all from where he was.

“The man seemed to be very stressed. I hope he is ok.”

Residents in Church Street said they had seen a man hanging out of a window in flats opposite Moor Row Primary School in School Street.

Some said they could hear him shouting abuse. Others said that a negotiator had been sent in to talk him down from the ledge.

A spokesman for Cumbria police said: “Police were called at about 11am to the report of a concern for welfare of a man at a property in the area of Scalegill Road, Moor Row.

“Officers were assisted by North West Ambulance Service and Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service.

“The man, in his mid-thirties and from Carlisle, was left in the care of medical professionals.”

Eye witnesses reported seeing a man being escorted from a building in School Street at 2.45pm.

The road was closed in both directions to pedestrians and traffic while specially-trained officers dealt with the incident, but reopened at about 3pm.