West Midlands Police have arrested a man after he held two women hostage for more than four hours at a mental health charity in Birmingham.

The incident took place yesterday at Birmingham charity Bita Pathways when a man entered the charity just after 3pm and held the two women hostage, according to a statement from West Midlands police.

Police cordoned of the area, on Alcester Street in Digbeth, and local buildings, including a wedding party in a nearby pub, were evacuated “while a force negotiator attempted to bring the incident to a peaceful negotiation”.

One woman was released just after 7:30pm, with the other released just after 8pm. The police said both women are being supported after their ordeal.

West Midlands Police said the man's decision was not believed to be pre-meditated and that he was not armed before entering the building.

A statement from the charity’s chief executive Erica Barnett said that the individual came into a part of the building where people were on work experience placements at its various social enterprises including Production Assembly services – a factory unit. But staff intervened and moved him to a staff area, which was where the incident took place.

Barnett said: “The individual who held two of our staff hostage yesterday was not connected in any way with BITA Pathways. He was not accessing our services. He was a total stranger who walked in off the street. We understand he was involved in an earlier incident at the coach station in Digbeth.

She added: “Fortunately none of our service users were harmed in any way. Our main concern now is to get back to business as usual, delivering our valuable services to people to the people who benefit from them. We also want to support our staff who were caught up in this incident.”

A 31-year-old man, who is not connected to the charity and who has no fixed address, was taken into custody after the incident, where he remains today on suspicion of unlawful imprisonment.