Here's why armed police were in Kettering's St Mary's Road yesterday

Armed officers were called to a residential area of Kettering because of a possible firearms incident, police have confirmed.

Residents were alarmed to see at least eight police cars in St Mary’s Road yesterday afternoon with officers arriving at the scene en-masse.

A member of the public had called police with concerns that a man had a gun – but the sighting of a gun was a false alarm.

A spokesman for Northants Police said: “Shortly before 3.50pm yesterday (Sunday, October 29), we received a call from a concerned member of the public that there was a man in St Mary’s Road, Kettering, with a gun.

"As with all serious incidents of this nature, armed officers were deployed to the scene. However, this turned out not to be as first reported and no offences were recorded.”