Officer unintentionally shoots man after report of 'woman held captive in pub'

An armed police officer "unintentionally" shot a suspect while responding to a report that a woman was being held captive in a London pub, Scotland Yard has said.

Metropolitan Police officers are being investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) after the shooting near Blackheath, south-east London, in the early hours of Saturday.

A woman called police shortly before 4am to report another woman was being held against her will by a group of armed men in The Anchor Pub in Lewisham Road, the force said.

Police said the man, believed to be in his 20s, was wounded when officers stopped a car that had driven from the pub to near Lewisham Road's junction with Blackheath Hill, on the border of the borough of Greenwich.

"During the vehicle stop, a police firearm was unintentionally discharged," a Scotland Yard statement said.

They arrested the wounded man, who remains in hospital with injuries not deemed to be life threatening.

Police were not able to say what he was detained on suspicion of.Scotland Yard said one other man was arrested from the car, and five others were arrested in the Anchor.

No woman was found during a search of the pub.

Police earlier said five men were arrested on suspicion of false imprisonment and another was held for possession of an offensive weapon, but later removed the arrest reasons from their statement.

Scotland Yard appealed for information about the woman allegedly being held captive, and called in particular for the woman who reported the situation from a phone box in Morden Hill to come forward.

Detective Chief Inspector James Stanyer said: "It is vital that we hear again from the original caller in this case.

"Officers, including armed police, rightly deployed urgently to the area following her phone call, and this has resulted in a number of searches and seven people being arrested."

The IOPC confirmed it had launched an investigation into the "non-fatal shooting".