A STUDENT has described how she saw a former EastEnders star caught up in an armed police raid in Bexleyheath.

Georgie Newton thought 25-year-old actor Stuart Anthony was filming for a television show when she spotted him outside the Royal Standard pub in Lion Road, close to where police were arresting a man.

Officers had swooped on a 40-year-old man at 12.30pm on October 2, following reports he had been spotted in a different pub in the Broadway with a gun the night before.

The 20-year-old told News Shopper: "The man with the gun was pinned against the wall with four armed police all pointing guns at him shouting.

"I thought they were filming for a television show except at that point I couldn’t see any cameras, but there were a lot of people around so I was a bit confused."

Miss Newton said more police officers then arrived at the scene and went to check inside the man’s black car.

She said: "The officers returned with what seemed to be a BB gun and seemed quite embarrassed at the whole incident.

"When I asked an officer if it was real he said he couldn’t really say much but the gun isn’t real but nevertheless, people shouldn’t be walking around with real or fake guns as it panics people."

Police confirmed the gun was not real and was in fact a blue plastic toy gun.

The man was not charged but instead received a fixed penalty notice after admitting behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress in a public place.

News Shopper previously reported how Mr Anthony, who played Simon White in EastEnders, took over as owner of the Royal Standard in June.