KENT police officer Steven Tagg threatened two colleagues with a bayonet fixed to the end of a two-foot wooden pole, a court was told. Tagg admitted threatening to kill a former girlfriend and two counts of assault with intent to resist arrest when he appeared before magistrates at Dartford.

Caroline Mitchell, prosecuting, told the court that in the summer, Tagg split from Dolores Reid after four years.

Miss Reid received a series of telephone calls from Tagg on September 11, and, during the final call, he threatened to come round and kill her, magistrates were told.

Police constables Ronald Murray and Anthony Francis arrived at Tagg's home in Kent Road, Gravesend, and arrested him in the hallway.

Miss Mitchell said Tagg then became agitated and went into another room. He emerged brandishing a two-foot wooden pole with a bayonet fixed to the end, she told magistrates.

"An officer described him (Tagg) as thrusting the implement towards him," said d Miss Mitchell. "One officer thought the bayonet would go through him. Both described him as being in an agitated state."

The bayonet ended up embedded in the floor two feet in front of the officers. Tagg was eventually overpowered and taken into custody. He was due to retire from the police force after 16 years service on the Sunday before his court appearance, but was in custody.

Gary Grimshaw, defending, claimed Miss Reid was the perpetrator and had been harassing his client. "She has been a thorn in his side since the summer," said Mr Grimshaw.

"He (Tagg) accepts he threatened the officers and asked them to leave. The bayonet was never thrown at the officers. It was dropped by his feet."

The magistrates will sentence Tagg at a later date.