Runaway gun man leaves messages for police on blog site

An armed man who gave the police the slip after they surrounded his home has since been taunting officers with messages on the internet.

Police were called to an address in Shoebury, near Southend-on-Sea, Essex, at midday on Friday. Officers surrounded the house and a police helicopter was in attendance, but when they entered the property at 3pm they found that the man, believed to be 24-year-old Mark Norton, had escaped.

A blogger alleging to be the former prison inmate has left three messages on the website of local newspaper The Echo. "I was arrested for breach of bail ... I would have been interviewed, kept in over night and then remanded into custody," he said. "I wasnt [sic] going to let this happen, I am on licence recall and would have to have served the other three years of my previous sentence."

He also wrote: "Doing what I did was a bad decision and has ruined my life. I want to apologise to the people of Shoebury for what happened but you have no idea what were my reasons."

Essex Police has recovered a firearm from Southend seafront.