A man who had pleaded guilty to charges of having abducting a woman in order to steal her mobile phone, withdrew his plea today after she claimed that she had not felt threatened.

Back in August 2009, the man, Italian mechanical engineer Oliviero Filisetti, had been charged with commissioning personal trainer Mariella, also known as Michael Chircop St John and taxi driver Matthew Joseph Sciberras to abduct his girlfriend Joanna Beirne, 38, and steal her car and mobile phone.

The court had heard that the Italian had become so romantically obsessed with Ms Beirne, wanting complete control over her. He had ordered the two men to steal her mobile phone in an elaborate plot.

The plan had been to for Mr St John Chircop and Mr Sciberras to crash into the back of Ms Beirne's car and steal her phone when she got out of the car to check the damage. However, when the planned collision occurred there was a lot of traffic and people were hooting their horns.

Mr Sciberras had jumped into the woman's car, held her at gun point and told her to drive on, a police officer had then told the court.

During the proceedings, Stefano Filletti, representing Mr Sciberras had filed a guilty plea but Ms Beirne this morning told the court that on the day it was raining and she herself had invited Mr Sciberras into her car.

She said that she did not feel frightened at any point, even though Mr Sciberras was carrying a weapon.

She also said that she 'suffered from dementia'.

Dr Filletti told the court this morning that, in view of Ms Beirne's testimony, he was withdrawing his client's guilty plea.