A suspected burglar spent two hours on the rooftops of a Bradford street before being talked down and arrested by police yesterday.

The man was seen emerging from a property on Holroyd Hill, Wibsey, just before noon, after allegedly removing tiles to escape onto the roof of the house.

A man was finally arrested at 1.48pm after police and firefighters used an aerial ladder platform to get him down.

A police spokesman later confirmed that a woman was also arrested in connection with the same incident, and two people remained in custody last night.

A resident of one of the houses on Holdroyd Hill is said to have called police after hearing noises from their loft, where it is thought a man was initially hiding.

When he realised he couldn’t access the house below, he escaped to the roof and began jumping from house to house in a bid to make his getaway.

Darren Drake, manager of Wibsey Fireplace Centre, situated on the opposite side of the street, said that after settling on one roof, a man could be heard goading police before his arrest.

“I looked outside and you could see him walking across about four rooftops,” said Mr Drake. “He was swearing at police and throwing tiles down.

“He was up there for well over an hour even though it was obvious he couldn’t get away. It would have saved a lot of grief if he’d come straight down.”

The manager of Gemz Hair Salon, also on Holdroyd Hill, said she had heard the man had been hiding in someone’s loft before bursting out onto the roof.

Other witness reports described the man “running on the roof tops for over an hour” before sitting down and “shouting abuse at police and passers-by”.

Police talked to the suspect, dressed in a pink hooded-top and jeans, from an adjoining roof before an officer was hoisted up by the aerial ladder to arrest him.

The main route through Wibsey was closed to traffic as the rooftop drama unfolded, only re-opening once the man was arrested and the buildings secured.

Last night Bradford CID appealed for any witnesses to the suspected burglary to contact police on 101.