A man carried out a gunpoint carjacking on a woman when she stopped at a red light.

Paul Purves opened the door of Linda Haggarty’s car and pointed an airgun that looked like a pistol at her as she sat at lights in the Newington area of Edinburgh.

Purves shouted at the 57-year-old victim to get out the car. As she left the vehicle, she sounded the horn to try and attract attention in the deserted street.

The robber climbed into the driver's seat and drove off leaving the victim in the road shouting for help and "visibly upset", the High Court in Edinburgh heard on Thursday.

Advocate depute Douglas Fairley said: "She asked witnesses to telephone the police and told them that her car had been stolen by a man with a gun."

Police were called and within minutes found the abandoned car. The driver's handbag was also discovered in a nearby garden with the purse and other contents missing.

Officers later recovered an air pistol tied in two plastic bags in undergrowth at the rear of a church.

Mr Fairley said that acting on information police later attended at homeless short term accommodation in the city's Dalkeith Road, where Purves was living at the time, to search his room.

He told them: "I'm no gonnae lie to you I sat in a car that had its engine running, who wouldnae, but I ken f*** all about any guns."

He was asked if he drove the car but replied: "No I was drunk and I cannae drive."

A DNA match was found for Purves on the steering wheel of the car taken in the robbery.

Purves, 27, was freed on bail following the carjacking in 2008 but failed to turn up for a court appearance the following year.

The fugitive was detained in Ireland in September 2010 before being returned to Scotland earlier this year to face justice.

Unemployed Purves admitted assaulting Ms Haggarty and robbing her of the vehicle and its contents on September 1 in 2008 at East Mayfield, in Edinburgh.

Purves also pled guilty to possessing the air pistol when committing the robbery and failing to appear at a hearing at the High Court on June 3 in 2009.

Mr Fairley said the victim had said the incident did have an impact on her, especially for the first couple of weeks after it.

He said: "She speaks to driving in the same road as the incident and 'freaking out' despite the fact she was not alone in the car. She states that she is now very wary and sudden loud noises frighten her."

Lord Turnbull told Purves that he needed a background report on him before sentencing him and continued the case until next month. The judge remanded him in custody.