A knife-wielding hotel guest who held a teenage chambermaid hostage in his room has been jailed for three years.

Django Smith, 39, locked the terrified 17-year-old inside his room while she was carrying out cleaning duties at the Beauport Park Hotel, Hastings, in October last year, Lewes Crown Court heard.

He phoned reception and told staff he had a knife and made threats to shoot her.

He demanded the building in Battle Road was evacuated before he would free the girl.

An armed police response unit and specialist hostage negotiators went to the scene as staff and guests waited in the driveway.

It was almost three hours later before the tearful girl was freed unharmed and reunited with her waiting family.

Smith, of no fixed address, gave himself up to police.

The court heard he was taken for treatment at Ashenhill Hospital, a secure unit at Hellingly, near Hailsham, for five months before being transferred on remand to Lewes prison.

Smith, who has no previous convictions, had admitted a charge of false imprisonment in January but the case had been adjourned several times before sentence while the court awaited psychiatric reports on his mental condition.

Anita Saran, prosecuting, told the court Smith had spent three days at the three-star hotel, saying he had no money to pay the bill because he had just been mugged.

Payment was arranged and on the morning he was due to book out he drank two vodkas and half a bottle of champagne before the chambermaid went to his room.

He used his keys to lock the door and, holding a knife which belonged to the hotel, told her: "I am sorry, I am taking you hostage."

The teenager was ordered to ring reception to say she was being held hostage by a man with a firearm who was a member of al-Quaida, the terrorist organisation.

During a series of phone calls he made threats to harm the girl and also ordered two bottles of champagne and cigarettes to be brought to his room.

At one point he told the girl to strip down to her underwear but he changed his mind almost immediately.

Ms Saran said: "He made threats to shoot her and hurt her. All the threats were made on the phone and not to her directly."

Rebecca Upton, defending, said Smith had been having a breakdown at the time. His business, which he had run for 15 years, had collapsed, his wife - the mother of his two children - had left him and he had been receiving treatment for an alcohol problem.

She said: "It was a cry for help. He did not feel in control at the time. He never physically touched her or caused her any harm."

She said Smith was sorry for the impact his actions had on the girl, who was forced to give up working at the hotel because of her ordeal.