A VANDAL spent New Year inside a police cell after hurling a rock at a police car because he was “bored”.
Steven Smith was spotted by revellers in South Shields throwing the stone on the roof of the vehicle, which was parked outside the town’s Morrisons in Ocean Road.
When police arrested the 47-year-old, he told them he did it because he bored and frustrated that he wasn’t allowed in any of the town centre bars.
Smith, of Urfa Terrace, South Shields, was already on bail for throwing bricks through two windows when he committed his latest crime, and should have been indoors due to a curfew between 8pm and 8am.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of causing criminal damage at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court.
Chairman of the bench Malcolm Grady told Smith he was in danger of wasting his life and that his behaviour was “completely unacceptable”.
Stan Sudworth, prosecuting, said: “At 11pm on New Year’s Eve he was seen by members of the public approaching a police vehicle parked on Ocean Road and throwing a rock on top of it.
“Officers were standing nearby and some people in the street pointed Smith out to them.
“They chased him and caught up with him. Smith said he did it because he was bored because he wanted to go into bars but he wasn’t allowed.”
Regarding the two broken windows – one at Curlew House and one at a flat in Laygate, both South Shields – Mr Sudworth told the court that both were smashed in the early hours of November 2.
He said: “Smith went to Curlew House, off Beach Road, and rang the intercom of a man he knows there.
“The occupant told him to go away, and minutes later a large brick came through the window.
“About an hour later another man, who lives in Laygate, was woken up by Smith shouting and swearing outside his window before a brick came through it.”
Smith was jailed in August for threatening to kill staff at South Shields bar Trocaderos, and since his release has been convicted of throwing a stone through his ex-girlfriend’s window and shouting at police and a group of children outside McDonalds.
Christopher Brown, defending, said: “He was frustrated with the two men because one of them had been seeing his ex-girlfriend when he was in prison.
“The damage to the police vehicle was only to the light casing on top of it, not to the vehicle itself.”
Magistrates adjourned the case until Tuesday for the probation service to prepare a report about Smith.
Chairman of the bench Malcolm Grady said: “It is fair to say we find your behaviour completely unacceptable.
“Since your release from prison you have already been convicted for three offences and now there are three more.
“You cannot continue this type of behaviour. You are 47 and some day you will reflect on this and say ‘why have I been doing this with my life?’”
He was granted bail until then on the conditions that he does not go to either of the victims’ homes and lives at the address given to court.
Twitter: @shieldsgazcrime