Bird table and hanging baskets used for target practice by drunken hostel occupant

A DRUNKEN teenage occupant of a Wisbech hostel was caught on CCTV as he caused �100 worth of damage to a bird table and hanging baskets while using them for target practice.

“He decided to see how well he could kick, he used them as a target, and then continued to hit them just to cause damage,” Fenland magistrates were told by prosecutor Andrea Fawcett.

Daniel Pack, 18, now of Leafere Way, Leverington, admitted causing criminal damage at The Staithe on September 13 last year, and admitted breaching to community order he was given for an earlier offence of damaging windows.

A project worker at The Staithe in Holmes Drive discovered the bird table and hanging baskets smashed to pieces, and CCTV showed Pack and another male jumping on the damaged garden items, said Ms Fawcett.

Mitigating, solicitor Roger Glazebrook said: “He knows his attitude has not been right. He knows he has got to settle down and find work.”

The court adjourned sentencing until February 9 and gave Pack conditional bail.

“You were in a public place and you were drunk,” said presiding magistrate Peter Waterfield. “If the next bench allows you to do unpaid work, it will probably be reinforced with a suspended prison sentence.”