WITNESSES have described the dramatic scenes as police tried to talk a man down from a railway bridge in Exeter.
Kevin Davis, 27, of Wellington in Somerset, pleaded guilty to three offences relating to Thursday's incident that led to all trains being cancelled for more than an hour.
He had been chased by a security guard who suspected him of stealing alcohol from the Co-op store in Queen Street. It is understood he was pursued through gardens and fields in the area before ending up on top of the bridge at Central Station and threatening to jump.
The incident brought part of the city centre to a standstill as police closed Queen Street. All trains out of Exeter Central were cancelled while a specialist negotiator attempted to talk him down.
After more than an hour of tense negotiations, Davis was taken into police custody where he was charged and appeared before Exeter Magistrates Court to plead guilty to three charges – one of theft, a public order offence and of stopping a carriage using the railway line through an unlawful act.
A second public order charge and one of trespassing on the railway line were withdrawn by the prosecution.
Davis will be sentenced for the remaining three matters at Exeter Crown Court on May 30.
A witness to the drama told the Echo: "There was a huge police presence with cops blocking both entrances to Queen Street and a helicopter flying over head. Fire and ambulance were also in attendance and a road block was created outside RAMM and the clock tower.
"There was also a lot of confused people walking around trying to figure out how they were going to get to the train station and why there were no trains running. There were also police all the way up to the High Street.
"Large crowds gathered at both ends of the road-block watching the man shouting and it looked like he was throwing items at the police.
"There was a lot of tension as the officer attempted to talk the man off the ledge.
"His actions brought the city centre to a halt as cars were not allowed to drive anywhere near the scene. This caused traffic to build up in the roads around the city centre."
A police spokesman said: "Thankfully we were able to bring this incident to a safe conclusion and nobody was hurt."
