A man is facing his first custodial sentence for a crime spree that included the kidnap of two people.

Neal Richard Wilson, 20, was remanded in custody yesterday after he admitted robbery and burglary, as well as the two kidnaps.

He will return to Teesside Crown Court to be sentenced in three weeks but has been warned by judge Richard Lowden that he will be locked up.

Wilson's barrister, Roger Moore, applied for bail for his recently-engaged client so he could finalise personal matters before he is put behind bars.

But Judge Lowden refused to set him free, and remanded him in custody until a probation officer's report is prepared before sentencing on May 7.

Wilson, of The Greenway, Thorntree, Middlesbrough, went missing from the court for a short while yesterday after talking to his barrister.

Thinking he had fled, Judge Lowden issued a warrant for his arrest, but just a few minutes later Wilson returned to the building.

Mr Moore said the enormity of what was about to happen had suddenly hit him and he wandered away to get some fresh air without telling his legal representatives or his father, who was also in court.

Asking for bail to be given to Wilson, Mr Moore said: "Despite the inevitability of the sentence, he has some personal affairs to put in order before the sentence begins.

"It is unfortunate he left the precincts of the court but his fault was not telling anyone."

Judge Lowden said: "There is an inevitable custodial sentence and I am afraid in these circumstances he is going to have to remain in custody.

"His guilty plea will stand him in good stead when it comes to sentence. I say that for the ears of his father as much as anybody else."

Wilson has admitted a joint charge of burglary at a garage in Osmotherley, North Yorkshire, on July 24 last year in which cigarettes, golf clubs, a golf trolley and mobile phone were taken.

Two joint charges of kidnap were also admitted as well as a robbery in which a mobile phone and wallet containing £190 were taken on the same day.