An engineer kidnapped his former girlfriend by hiding in her car boot and bursting through the back seat with a gun, a court was told yesterday.

Glen Thwaites, 31, who had been suffering from paranoia and severe depression, held the gun to the head of Emma Gray, 28, during a terrifying 90-minute drive through Tees-side.

When Thwaites ordered her to pull into a layby Miss Gray, who ended their eight-year relationship because he was possessive, spun the Fiesta's steering wheel, throwing him off balance, and the gun fell on to the front passenger seat.

She threw it into some bushes, but Thwaites was not deterred, and told her to continue driving, as he repeatedly insisted he was going to kill himself.

When he allowed her to stop at a shop she explained the situation to assistant Harbajan Singh and asked him to call the police.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Thwaites then drove her to a cul-de-sac and stopped, saying that he wanted to talk, but he dropped a lighted cigarette into his lap and when he got out to beat off the ash, she drove away.

Jamie Hill, prosecuting, said the drama then switched to the A66 where Thwaites sat on a bridge over speeding traffic, threatening to jump off. Police closed the road for an hour and 20 minutes while negotiators talked him down.

Dan Cordey, representing Thwaites, who took an overdose in an earlier attempt on his life, said he was in a psychiatric unit for four months after the kidnap.

He now accepted that the relationship is over and his behaviour had been totally unacceptable.

A psychiatrist at a stalking unit reported that he posed a low risk to Miss Gray and that prison could have a great effect on his mental health. Judge George Moorhouse told Thwaites: "I accept in passing sentence upon you today that you had no intention in any way to cause her harm, but having said that it must have been a dreadful experience for her and something which she will have cause to recall for a very long time to come."

Thwaites, of Northumberland Road, Thornaby, was given an 18-month jail sentence suspended for two years after he pleaded guilty to the January 13 kidnap.