An armed siege in Sutton St James near Wisbech ended at about 10.30pm last night when police entered a property in Chapelgate and found the dead body of a man upstairs. Police confirm no shots were fired by officers. The incident has been referred to the IPCC to investigate.

Police negotiators earlier urged a man at the centre of an armed siege to answer the phone and speak to them.

Officers were heard asking a man called Barry to talk to them, as they try to bring the incident to a peaceful conclusion. One said through a loud hailer: 'Pick up the phone Barry - we're here to help you. Let us know you're OK.'

There were reports that the man was aged in his 50s or 60s and regularly travelled around Sutton St James, Lincs, on a mobility scooter.

Lincolnshire Police tonight confirmed a firearm had been discharged during an incident earlier today. A spokesman said streets around the incident in Chapelgate remained closed off.

Police have been at the scene since around 11am, when an officer suffered minor injuries. He is believed to have been showered with glass after a window in his patrol car was shot out.

Tonight sources refused to go into detail about the situation at the house, but confirmed that a man armed with a gun was inside the property.

'The incident is ongoing and we are currently unable to provide further information for operational reasons,' one said.

Drivers have been told to avoid the village altogether. Tonight officers said rumours circulating on the internet that the injured police officer had been shot were untrue.

The EDP has also been told the incident is not being linked to the armed robbery which happened this morning at Francis Wain's jewellers, in King's Lynn.

Masked men stormed the shop in Norfolk Street with sledge hammers, after letting off a smoke bomb.

The gang, also believed to have been armed with a hand gun, fled with jewellery after letting off a smoke bomb to block CCTV cameras. Police in Norfolk are still hunting the raiders.

A woman working at the Chapelgate post office in Sutton St James, near the scene of the armed stand-off, said the policeman injured in that incident was seen walking into an ambulance and was not badly hurt.

The woman, who did not want to be named, said: 'I think the policeman had some kind of facial injuries.

'The village has been shut down - the police have cars at a lot of the junctions coming into the village and they won't let anybody in.'

She said she had heard that a shot was fired at a passing police car in which the officer who was injured was travelling.

'I didn't see it myself,' she said, 'and maybe his injuries are from glass or something, but people said he wasn't badly hurt.

'They took the police car he was in away on a low loader.'

Villagers have been asked to go to nearby houses of friends or relatives, or ake their way to Sutton St James Primary School in Bells Drove.

Staff and volunteers from the British Red Cross have set up a rest centre for residents in the area affected by the road closures.

Joy Clift-Hill, British Red Cross operations director for Lincolnshire, said: 'We are working closely with the police, and our highly trained British Red Cross staff and volunteers will remain at the centre for as long as we are needed.'