A MAN pleaded guilty yesterday to kidnapping a former girlfriend at gunpoint.

Glen Thwaite, 31, from Thornaby, Teesside, was arrested after threatening to throw himself from a flyover on the A66 in an incident which involved police, the fire brigade and a police helicopter. Earlier, his former girlfriend, Emma Louise Gray, 28, told a shopkeeper that he was in a car with a gun after kidnapping her, and the police were called. The gun turned out to be an imitation.

Thwaites, of Diamond Road, Thornaby, who was talked down to safety, pleaded guilty at Teesside Crown Court to kidnapping her on January 13. Two other charges of possession of firearms, which he denied, were left on the court file. He was remanded on bail for a psychiatric report on condition that he did not contact Miss Gray or her family.

Judge Michael Taylor told him: "I'm not making any guarantee that you will walk out of here next time."