A knife-wielding man who held his mother hostage was led away peacefully yesterday morning after a five-hour Police siege.

Officers rushed to the man's Bailey's Bay apartment early yesterday after receiving reports that 25-year-old St. Brendan's outpatient Ansel Johnston was wielding two knives and threatening his mother who lived elsewhere in the building.

Johnston -- a former high-school Police cadet said to have a grudge against Police -- released his mother unharmed from his Summit View Drive apartment but then threatened officers.

It's thought his father was also in the building, but had managed to escape and raise the alarm.

Police said Johnston was prescribed medication but had refused to take it for days.

Emergency Response Team (ERT) officers armed with MP5 sub-machine pistols, side pistols and tear gas rushed to the scene.

But the man was barricaded in his apartment behind a washing machine and furniture and Police could only watch as he smashed up the apartment and made threats.

A crowd gathered as Johnston, wearing a crash-helmet, stabbed at furniture with a foot-long meat knife.

Police negotiators began arriving after 7 a.m. to begin tense talks with the agitated suspect.

ERT officers skirted the building and neighbouring apartment while several waited on either side of the doors as Johnston hammered on the window with one of the knives.

One bystander said: "He's been like this for a couple of years. He doesn't like the Police.

"He gets very wound up and will just snap.'' Other neighbours said Johnston had been restless for days and had slept just a few hours in the last week.

During the siege, St. Brendan's staff also arrived to try to talk the man round.

The deadlock was finally broken when one of the ERT officers gained the confidence of the man, who agreed to take his helmet off if the ERT member followed suit.

Shortly after Johnston clambered over the barricade and stumbled out of the apartment.

ERT officers crowded around him to help treat wounds caused as he walked barefoot on broken glass in the ransacked apartment.

He was then handcuffed and taken to the next door apartment before being led grinning to a waiting Police car which took him to hospital.

A Police spokesman said: "The female hostage was released by the suspect very early, in fact prior to the arrival of the negotiators, although he continued to hold Police at a stand-off with threats to harm them for some considerable time following.

"He remained in a highly agitated state and there was considerable damage done to the residence, but the man did maintain a dialogue with negotiators until he was persuaded to give himself up at approximately 10 a.m.

Police negotiator Inspector Michael DeSilva said: "He has had experience of being arrested before when he ended up in St. Brendan's and he may have associated us as being responsible for that.'' Inspector Norman Ingermann, who was at the scene, praised Police negotiators.

He said: "We weren't worried, even though he had two knives.

"He didn't display any real aggression to himself or anyone else.

"This has been a very successful operation. Our negotiators did a great job.'' Further coverage on Page 2 Happy ending: Hours of talks paid off yesterday when a man who had allegedly held a hostage at knife point gave himself up. Pictured above right is negotiator Inspector Michael DeSilva. The faces of the Emergency Response Team members are hidden to protect their identity.