Thug 'acting the big man' smashed up Leeds student house in drug-fuelled rampage
A thug who smashed up a student house in Leeds causing thousands of pounds worth of damage has been handed a suspended sentence.
Lewis Haley left a trail of destruction after what the judge described as being a “drug-fuelled rampage” with a friend.
Few details were disclosed during the hearing at Leeds Crown Court but the pair had been “out in town getting intoxicated” on February 8 last year.
They returned to the property on Beechwood Terrace in Burley and went to bed, Haley claimed.
Haley said he woke to find his friend “smashing the property up”, which resulted in a fight where a huge amount of damage was caused.
This included the windows, a TV and kitchen cupboards among other items.
He later told a probation that he “felt responsible”.
Court-list documents suggest the damaged ran to more than £6,000, although Judge Christopher Batty hinted the bill came to much more.
The house belongs to Beyond Lettings, a Leeds-based agent that deals in student accommodation.
The court heard that Haley, of Cherry Tree Walk, East Ardsley, works as a warehouse operator.
He has a previous conviction from earlier this year when he returned three times to a Sainsbury’s store to steal and barged a security guard out of the way who tried to stop him. He was handed a 12-month community order on that occasion.
He admitted a charge of criminal damage for the property he destroyed at the Burley house.
Judge Batty said Haley “thought he was a big man” that night, and said: “It was a bit of mindless pleasure.”
He gave him a 12-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, with 75 hours of unpaid work, 10 rehabilitation days and a six-month drug rehabilitation order.