MICK Bailey, the man who sparked a three-hour siege after threatening to blow himself up, has apologised for the trouble he caused.

As revealed in Saturday's Advertiser, Mr Bailey, 54, was arrested after armed police and negotiators were brought in to bring an end to the stand-off in Beechcroft Road, Stratton.

He was questioned at Gablecross police station over the weekend and released without charge when officers decided his actions had been a desperate cry for help.

Now Mr Bailey, whose wife and 12-year-old daughter have left him after the ordeal, says he does not know what he was thinking.

The incident, which started after 6pm on Friday, began with an argument about Mr Bailey's wife, Chris, going to bingo and soon got out of hand.

"I'm just so ashamed," he said.

"I want to apologise to my wife, my daughter, the neighbours and the whole community."

Beechcroft Road was closed for three hours while the police tried to entice Mr Bailey, who has a degenerative brain disease, out of his house.

He said: "I put a lot of people through a lot of inconvenience.

"I've been to both my next door neighbours to apologise, but I can't go knocking on every door in the street.

"I'm absolutely devastated, I came home and my wife and daughter have gone and my wife won't answer my calls.

"A lot of this is drink. It was a combination of things and it just got out of hand.

"It was over the amount of times my wife goes to bingo and it got completely out of control.

"She has put up with a lot, my wife. There's nothing funny about it, I just feel ashamed."

Mr Bailey said he was scared to leave his home when he saw the armed police.

"I got my senses together and I saw the guns and panicked," he said.

"I thought about trying to run. I had to pluck up the courage to come out."

Since being back home he has been worried about what his neighbours think.

"I went down the road and I just put my hat on and tried to hide," he said.

"It's going to take people a while to forgive me for this.

"I just can't believe it's escalated like this.

"I'm at home with the dog and she's missing my wife and daughter too."