DJ Gina McKie in stalker panic

RADIO star Gina McKie was left in terror this week after being told a STALKER was heading to her studio, the News of the World can reveal.

Cops were called in after the fan - who had bombarded Gina and other staff with vile letters before threatening VIOLENCE - escaped from a nearby psychiatric unit.

Fortunately the patient was intercepted before he reached the station's Clydebank headquarters.

But a Clyde employee admitted: "Our nerves are at breaking point."

And last night a pal of Gina said: "She is obviously very shaken by her ordeal, as are her colleagues."

It is understood the man had been pestering staff for several weeks to put him "on air". In a series of chilling letters, he had described in graphic detail his compulsion to be on radio.

And he vowed to stop at nothing in his warped quest for broadcasting fame. Our source said: "The poison pen letters he posted from his hospital ward sent shivers down our spines.

"At first we just thought it was a harmless prank from someone playing silly games.

"But it soon became apparent we were dealing with, potentially, a very dangerous individual.

"This guy definitely made his violent intentions clear in his letters. So there was a real sense of PANIC when we heard he'd gone on the run."

The man fled Leverndale Hospital in Crookston, Glasgow, at 9.30pm on Wednesday - just half an hour before the popular host went live on Clyde 1.

On her chat show, Late Night Gina McKie, the presenter talks "love, sex and relationships".

She is heard throughout Scotland on Clyde's sister stations Radio Forth, West Sound, MFR, Radio Borders, Radio Tay and Northsound.

Hospital staff immediately alerted Strathclyde Police and officers raced to the radio station.

Cops were placed on guard outside Gina's studio before the man was nabbed in the city centre.

Our Clyde insider added: "We were told he'd bragged to other patients at the hospital that he would barge into our station.

"We firmly believe that was where he was heading for. It seems the police just beat him to it. Now we are hoping that he'll be restrained from making any more threats."

The psychiatric unit at Leverndale is classed as low security and houses patients who are deemed to be of "medium risk" to the public.

The hospital also includes a rehabilitation ward for patients. Gina, 34, could not be contacted last night. But a close pal said: "She is extremely grateful to the police."

Last night NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Strathclyde Police refused to comment on the incident.

When asked why the public was not made aware of his escape, a Scottish Government spokesman said: "He was not considered to be a huge risk."

A Radio Clyde spokeswoman said: "We were made aware of the situation by police, who updated us regularly throughout the night.

"There was a police presence at the station as a precaution."

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