David Roustoby sought publicity when holding armed police at bay in 2004 - three years before he became a murderer.

He was holed up in a house off Windmill Lane, Heslington, after he showed a teenager a replica gun.

That led to police being told he was armed and triggered the five-hour siege.

While officers tried to persuade him to come out peacefully, he called The Press and told a reporter: “I’m sat in my house and I’ve got about nine police officers pointing guns at me.”

She told him he should surrender himself.

After he had done so and was released on bail, he again spoke to The Press about his actions.

“I felt very strongly I had done nothing wrong,” he said. “It’s perfectly legal to buy something like this...providing you do not use it in an offensive manner.”

He said he felt safer with a replica gun in his home and that he wouldn’t buy another.

He didn’t tell the reporter he had already been convicted of causing actual bodily harm to a police officer when he discharged an imitation gun in the ear of an officer when under arrest.

He later claimed it had gone off by accident.

In 2006, he played about with a third replica gun in front of children, and social services were called.