Police 'with guns and dogs' attend University of Essex

Students at the University of Essex say several armed police officers were spotted on the Wivenhoe campus last Thursday at about 9pm.

It is currently unknown why the officers attended the site.

The Gazette approached the University of Essex for clarification and a spokesman confirmed they were aware of an incident which had taken place.

The university said it was a police matter.

Read more: This is why armed police officers were at university campus

UPDATE

A spokeswoman for Essex Police has now confirmed why the force was at the educational site.

She said: "We were called at around 7.40pm on Thursday 21 January following a report of a man present at the University of Essex campus at Colchester, who was believed to match the description of a person wanted by police.

"Firearms officers attended the location, as the wanted man was believed to have access to firearms.

"We were called by members of security staff from the University of Essex and were accompanied by them throughout.

"We spoke to the man present and confirmed his identity, establishing that he was not the person we were looking for.

"We appreciate that being approached by police can be an unnerving experience and we’d like to thank everyone at the scene for answering our questions so that we could conclude our enquiries."