A FACTORY worker from Trowbridge who threatened to throw himself off a fire brigade training tower has pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage.

Ross Grant, 29, from Charlotte Square, admitted tearing a lightning conductor off the tower when he appeared before magistrates in Devizes.

Grant climbed the tower in the early hours of December 16.

Police negotiators were called in and spent four hours persuading him to come down.

He had earlier been thrown out of Hayden's Bakeries, near the training centre at Hopton Industrial Estate, where it is thought his former partner was working.

Grant was due to be sentenced at Bath Magistrates' Court on Wednesday as he was also set to be sentenced for a separate offence of driving while disqualified, but the paperwork had not arrived in time from Devizes.

He was released on unconditional bail and will be sentenced at a later date.