THE man at the centre of a rooftop drama who refused to come down despite a 13-hour standoff with police has now gone missing the Daily Echo can reveal.

Officers across Southampton are currently searching for the 39-year-old who is considered a danger to himself.

As reported by the Daily Echo earlier today, police were called to a block of flats in Gainsford Road, Southampton, at 11.20am yesterday after reports a man was sat on the roof.

Trained negotiators spent almost 13 hours up a crane trying to convince the man to come down and offering him food and water in the blistering heat.

However police this morning confirmed that they made a decision around midnight last night to withdraw and instead maintain a passing presence as they believed that would be the best way to coax the man down.

Shortly after 2am the man, who police are not naming, came off the roof - but he has managed to walk out of the house and his whereabouts are now not known.

A police spokesman said: “With the man still on the roof shortly before midnight, the decision was taken to withdraw the officers at the scene and maintain a passing police presence.

“Shortly after 2am, officers noted the man was no longer on the roof and enquiries are continuing this morning to locate him.

“We would like to thank the local community and the media for their patience while we responded to this incident. Our priority throughout was to preserve the safety and wellbeing of all involved.”

This morning residents were waking up to find the drama had come to an end - but still in disbelief at what they had seen throughout yesterday.

Police had left the scene by the time early risers were looking out of their windows at 6am.

One neighbour reported how she saw the man standing on the ridged apex of one of the roofs.

"He was straddling the roof for a while and then he got up and walked around,"she said.

"If he had slipped it would have been horrendous."

Daily Echo: Police closed Gainsford Road for ten hours

It is thought the man had only moved in to the area recently, but residents did not know his identity.

Another neighbour said: "It is all a bit scary really and not what you expect.

"When I came out to see what was happening, he looked down at me from the roof."

One resident said he had not been allowed to leave his property during the day except to collect his children from school while others said they had missed their rubbish collection with police blocking the road.

Another neighbour said: "He was up there all day and must have been so dehydrated.

"Nobody knows why he was up there and police were not telling us anything."