SIEGE suspect Robert Smith is due to appear before Swindon Crown Court today to face a string of kidnap and robbery charges.

Smith, 42, is accused of kidnapping two sisters and one of their boyfriends from a house in Dursley Road in November and could enter pleas at the hearing scheduled for this morning.

Smith's first appearance before a judge in November was adjourned for psychiatrists to compile a report on him.

Smith, of Hampton Gardens, Aylesbury, is accused of holding-up teenager Hannah Smith in an armed raid at the Spar shop in Dursley Road, just minutes before kidnapping her two sisters Victoria and Laura and Robert Coppack from a house in the same road.

A VW Lupo was seized outside the Crown Pub in Timbrell Street in connection with the investigation.

Smith faces three robbery charges including two from cashpoints at the County Way Tesco store, three counts of kidnap and three firearms offences.

Detectives in Trowbridge are waiting to reinterview Smith over a 16-hour armed siege in Cross Street last November, in which parts of Timbrell Street and Charlotte Square were sealed off.

It was during the siege that Wiltshire police opened fire for the first time in its history, discharging three rounds into the Cross Street flat.

Smith has not been charged with any offences relating to the siege but officers want to question him again.

Smith has been remanded in custody at HMP Horfield, Bristol, since his arrest on November 17.