A MAN whose “life has been destroyed” after he was arrested for assault at the end of an eight-hour stand-off with armed police says he needs to find closure after he was cleared of any crime.

Gary Fleat had been charged with assault after he was arrested in Florence Court on the morning of Monday, 21 August last year.

Counter terrorist specialist firearms officers, ambulance and fire crews were called on the Sunday following a report of a concern for welfare of a man at a house in Florence Court.

After being charged, the bench joiner and carpenter was in HM Prison Winchester for two months. He was released and had to wear an electronic tag for a further three months.

Five months later, Mr Fleat had his charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm dropped at Winchester Crown Court on 19 January after he was told no evidence was to be entered by the prosecution.

But now the 47-year-old says he cannot find any closure after the ordeal.

Mr Fleat, who now lives in Totton, added: “It’s put me further into depression. I’m on the brink of being homeless, I’m staying at a friend’s house and I’ve only got a month left there.

“It’s destroyed my life; it’s absolutely destroyed it. I want to clear my name.”

On the Sunday night before his arrest, Mr Fleat said he went to bed as he had work early the next morning while his wife went out to bingo.

After she came home, he said they argued briefly before she left to stay overnight elsewhere.

Mr Fleat said he went back to sleep and woke up to see his phone flashing with a missed call from his wife.

He said: “I phoned my wife’s phone and the police [answered the phone and] said to look outside your window.

“I see the whole place crawling with armed police, dogs and everything. Then they wouldn’t tell me why they were there.

“I’ve suffered depression for the last 20 years and I see everything there and it put me in a bad way.

“I just panicked and I had suicidal thoughts.”

Mr Fleat said he was eventually convinced to leave his home in the early hours of the Monday morning and was then arrested for assaulting his partner.

The Crown Prosecution Service declined to comment further other than to confirm it did not submit any evidence.