A MAN who held a sex worker against her will phoned the police telling them he wouldn’t let her go until they arrived.

Stuart Gray, who was drunk when he prevented the terrified woman from leaving his home, found himself behind bars when a judge jailed him.

And the 48-year-old’s sentence was extended as he was on a suspended jail term for making bogus 999 calls where he made threats to the operator.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court the offence took place on Friday, January 31 this year.

She said Gray had bought the woman, who he had some sort of arrangement with, some drugs on the condition she sat and talked to him.

But when she tried to leave, having smoked the crack cocaine, he refused to let her out removing the keys from the locked door and hurling abuse at her.

Among the swearing he said to her ‘You girls are all the same, you take my money and leave’.

Miss Squire said he told her he would call the police ‘to get her in trouble,’ which he did but he ended up getting arrested.

When he was questioned he told officers he had known the woman for about a month or so and said he wanted a relationship with her.

Gray, of Rodbourne Road, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and admitted being in breach of a suspended sentence.

At an earlier hearing, the court was told: “There have been incidents in the past relating to this girl and other sex workers in the area.”

Chris Smyth, defending, said his client had been in custody on remand for six months, which is the equivalent of a one-year jail term.

He said the period the woman was detained was only about 20 minutes and there was no use of violence.

“It has a particularly unusual feature that he phoned the police saying he wouldn’t let her go until they arrived,” he said.

“He has expressed a desire to address his various issues.

“Under the current community order he was in fact demonstrating compliance and demonstrating he can manage his emotions when not drinking, probably the underlying root of his problems.

Jailing him, Judge Douglas Field said: “You pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity to this serious case of false imprisonment.

“The matter has been delayed because your solicitor wanted to obtain a psychiatric report because of your psychiatric history.

“In the event the psychiatric diagnosis was an anti-social personality disorder.

“You terrified this woman, you were drunk and you were abusive and frightening and not withstanding the fact her period of detention was relatively short.

“She was vulnerable, she was terrified and I take a serious view of it.

“The situation is aggravated by your previous convictions.”

He jailed him for 56 weeks for false imprisonment and 18 for the suspended sentence making a total of 74 weeks.

He also imposed a restraining order banning him from contacting the woman for five years.