Armed police free child, 12, held by father with 'bomb'

Armed police stormed an Australian office building today after a father took his daughter hostage and claimed he had a bomb in a backpack.

The 52-year-old holed up in a barrister's office near Sydney, demanding to see a lawyer and yelling to police outside: "I don't care if I die."

Negotiators bargained with him for 12 hours before officers used an axe and a battering ram to break down the door of the room where he was holding his 12-year-old daughter.

As police wrestled the girl from her father and dragged her out she was heard to scream: "That's my dad." The man, who was wearing a judge's wig, was taken into custody.

The girl, thought to be at the centre of a custody battle, was said to be "badly shaken" but unharmed. She was reunited with her family.

Explosives experts are examining the backpack. It is not clear whether a device was actually inside.

The drama began when the man walked calmly into the Arthur Phillip chambers in Parramatta and demanded to speak to a named member of staff.

When clerk Betty Hor told him no one of that name worked there he "snapped". Ms Hor said: "He asked, 'Is this person here?' And I said, 'no, there is nobody here by that name.' He went up to the next level. Then he came back down into the reception area.

"I again mentioned there was nobody by that name and he took a book out of the library - we've got law books on the wall - and threw it at reception."

She said the man then claimed he had a bomb in his bag before locking himself and his daughter in a room and hurling things around. Ms Hor then called police and described him as "frustrated and angry".

Police evacuated more than 100 people from the building and others nearby. They refused to reveal what the man's demands were. Denis Clifford, assistant commissioner of New South Wales police, said: "Throughout this operation we have acted on the assumption there was an explosive device in the backpack.

"It's been very dangerous and the police involved have showed great courage.

"Negotiations broke down and reached a stage where we had to do something. We've taken the person into custody. His daughter is obviously distressed, but appears to be unharmed. All's well that ends well.

Last month a fake bomb was strapped to a teenager at her Sydney home. Experts took 10 hours to remove the device from the neck of Madeleine Pulver, 18. It was discovered that the device as an elaborate fake.