Brighton attacker jailed following three-hour police standoff
Oliver Phipps threw items at negotiators while they tried to talk him down
A Brighton man has been jailed for three and a half years after assaulting a woman, before engaging police in a three-hour stand off.
Officers found Oliver Phipps sat on a ninth-storey window ledge and wielding two large knives after being called to reports of a woman being threatened in High Street on August 24th last year.
The 39-year-old, of no fixed address, threw items from the window, including a mirror and a bedside cabinet, to the street below while specialist negotiators tried to talk him down.
Phipps was finally arrested after coming down from the ledge in the early hours of the morning.
He was subsequently charged with two counts of causing actual bodily harm, affray, criminal damage and intentional strangulation.
He pleaded guilty to affray, criminal damage and one count of causing actual bodily harm, and was found guilty of intentional strangulation.
He was found not guilty of one count of causing actual bodily harm.
Phippds was jailed at Lewes Crown Court on Friday (April 12th),
Detective Constable Stewart Cameron of Sussex Police said:
"Oliver Phipps is a dangerous offender, whose reckless behaviour endangered the lives of his victim, the officers at the scene and himself.
"It is testament to the work of the specialist negotiators on the morning of 24 August last year that this incident did not have a tragic outcome.
"I would also like to commend the victim for supporting this investigation throughout, and the quick-thinking member of the public who reported the assault."