Nuneaton: Two bowling alley staff held hostage by man with sawn-off shotgun

Gunman may have been known to a hostage, says company chief executive

Armed police at the scene where a gunman is holding two bowling alley members of staff hostage (PA)

A gunman who stormed a bowling alley in Nuneaton has taken two members of staff hostage, according to the company's chief executive.

Head of MFA Bowl, Mehdi Amshar, said he had been informed the pair were being held at gunpoint at the Nuneaton branch.

Mr Amshar suggested the gunman might the boyfriend or husband of one of the staff members, but this has not been confirmed.

"We believe from what my manageress tells me that he is an ex-husband or a boyfriend of a member of staff," he told Sky News.

"That is what I know, I can't confirm that for definite."

Mr Amshar said there had been no contact with the two members of staff, adding: "All our staff, the rest of our staff, are safe and they made sure that all the customers have left the premises so everybody is in safety, with the exception of the two people who are, we know that are missing and we assume that they are the two that are still inside the premises because the manageress has done the check but those two people are not accounted for."

Police have not yet confirmed how many hostages are being held or the precise nature of the siege.

Officers placed the surrounding area on lockdown after customers fled the bowling alley on seeing the gunman.

Customer Lawrence Hallet was inside the bowling alley for a children's party.

He told Sky the gunman was a "40-odd-year-old guy, rough round edges, unshaven, etcetera"

"He seemed to know someone in there ... He had a very aggressive demeanour about him."