Cyanide warning as families flee homes

A Black Country town ground to a halt during a chemical scare after a 999 call from a woman threatening to harm herself with cyanide.

Dozens of homes in Sedgley were evacuated and police sealed off Gospel End Street.

Decontamination crews, firefighters, police descended on the area after being alerted by paramedics. Ambulance staff had to wear protective suits when they were sent to a medical emergency at 12.30pm on Saturday. Gospel End Street was closed from its junction with Vicar Street.

Aspect lightings shop in Gospel End Street had its customer car park completely cut off by the cordon.

Shop manager Paul Longstaff said traffic had been jammed outside his shop all afternoon.

"There were lots of cars stuck in the street outside the shop," he said.

"We saw a drop in trade and people coming in because no-one can get access to our car park.

"It was disappointing because we have only had a few people come in off the street."

Mr Longstaff added: "Some emergency vehicles were using the car park.

One resident among those evacuated from her home said: "I was unable to get back in the house for hours.

"It caused so much disruption to people's day."

Det Insp Richard Jones, of Brierley Hill police station, said: "Because we did no know what materials we were dealing with we treated the incident with a great deal of caution.

"As a matter of routine a 50m cordon was set up to safeguard the public."

Detectives said a woman was arrested and later released without charge and handed over to mental health staff and is now being assessed.

Police are still unable to confirm whether one of the substances at the address was cyanide.

Fire crews from Bilston, Dudley, Wednesbury, Wolverhampton, Tipton and Willenhall's specialist decontamination crew also attended the incident.

Fire operations commander, Mark Lawton, said emergency services had attended the scene in such numbers because of the unkown quantity of chemicals".

"Fire crews found a lady in procession of a small amount of an unknown chemical in a bottle.

"The fire service and ambulance crews used special suits when they entered the premises as they were unsure of the chemical they were dealing with."