Hackney hostage speaks out

Hackney gun siege hostage Paul Okere told today of his three desperate phone calls to police as he hid only feet from crazed gunman Eli Hall.

Speaking for the first time of his ordeal, the 22-year-old student Mr Okere revealed how he rang directory inquiries from his bedsit for the number for Scotland Yard. Mr Okere, who was crouching in the next room from Hall, was told he should ring the local police at Hackney. They in turn gave him another number for the police team handling the siege.

Speaking of his 11-day ordeal, he told how he built up a relationship with Hall, 32, a violent criminal with a string of convictions for assault and drugs.

The siege ended after 15 days and a cost of £1 million when Hall shot himself after setting fire to the Graham Road house. Mr Okere, who arrived in Britain from Nigeria at 16, was living in one of the five bedsits in the house when police tried to storm the building on Boxing Day.

At first, after diving for cover as police and Hall exchanged shots, he retreated to his bedsit believing it would all be over by the following day.

But as the stand-off developed into London's longest ever siege, Mr Okere was, at times, threatened with being shot, while at other moments he shared meals with the gunman, trying to convince him to give himself up.

Hall, who was also wanted by police for attempted murder, at one point pointed a gun at the student's head threatening to shoot him. Mr Okere finally made a dash for freedom after managing to divert Hall and scramble through a barricaded door.