A FORMER prison guard could return to jail as a prisoner after he admitted a series of crimes against an ex-inmate.

Gary Bridge, 55, who used to work at Askham Grange Women’s Open Prison, near York, kept in touch with the prisoner after she finished her sentence.

He pleaded guilty to threatening to kill her, falsely imprisoning her, causing her grievous bodily harm, causing her actual bodily harm on two different occasions and affray. The crimes were committed between January 2001 and November 2004, away from the prison and after she was released.

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, warned him that he could be jailed when he returns to York Crown Court next month for sentence. Bridge, who now lives in a flat near Ripley Castle, Harrogate, was released on bail while probation officers and a psychiatrist prepared reports on him.

His lawyer, Richard Reed, said he committed the crimes while suffering from post-traumatic stress and severe depression and had a long history of medical problems.

Bridge denied three charges of raping the woman. Those charges will lie on file, which means they will appear on his criminal record but not as convictions. They are alleged to have occurred outside the prison.