'˜Loss of control' led tenant to smash up flat

Darren Greenwood admitted completely losing control, pulling a sink off a tiled wall, smashing windows and doors and punching holes in the plasterboard.

Greenwood, 27, now of General Street, Blackpool, pleaded guilty to causing £3,000 of damage to property.

He was sentenced to a 24 months community order with up to 20 days rehabilitation to be supervised by the probation service, fined £20 and ordered to pay £500 compensation by Blackpool magistrates.

Pam Smith, prosecuting, said the landlord of Greenwood’s former flat in Northumberland Avenue, North Shore, was alerted that he was smashing it up on February 13.

Probation officer, Lesley Whittaker, told magistrates in a report on Greenwood: “He said he lost control of his emotions completely to the extent that it frightened him.”

On the day of the offence, a man claimed Greenwood owed him money and threatened him and he had also argued with his girlfriend 
and brother, the court was told.

Greenwood used to be an alcoholic but he had not drunk for two years. That day he went and bought five beers and drank them, magistrates heard.

Patrick Nelligan, defending, told the court that Greenwood said he had been depressed because the flat was practically uninhabitable.

It had damp up the walls to almost thigh height and he had kept complaining about its state to the landlord.