An Exeter Lord of the Rings fan has been ordered to pay his neighbour £50 compensation after he smashed her precious garden gnome heirloom when he ‘lost his temper’ finding she had undercut their cannabis deal.
A 51-year-old man has admitted smashing his neighbour’s garden gnome after he was undersold cannabis, Exeter Magistrates’ Court heard, writes Isabelle Pinnock, OPCC court reporting scheme.
Shane Bryant, of Wellington Road, Alphington, Exeter, pleaded guilty to criminal damage and assaulting a constable from June 4 this year.
Simon Dusting, prosecuting, said Bryant attended the complainant’s address and a verbal argument ensued.
The court heard he then went to the rear of her property and began throwing items at a window, before waving a large stick and smashing a garden gnome worth £50.
Bryant shouted, swore and banged on the window for a period of 15 minutes before he left and police were called, the court was told.
Officers located Bryant nearby, and as he was being detained, he inadvertently headbutted a police constable and was further arrested for assault.
The court heard Bryant has previous convictions for violent offences, although they date back more than a decade.
Defending, his solicitor said Bryant had lived on Wellington Road for a considerable length of time and that there had been no issues with the complainant until her partner moved in.
The defence said Bryant suffers physical health complications after a serious workplace accident left him with a severe chest injury. The court heard the complainant’s partner had offered Bryant cannabis for pain relief.
“This incident arose because he took the cannabis home, weighed it, and found out he had been undersold. He went over and lost his temper,” the defence said.
In a statement read to the court, the complainant said the damaged gnome had been passed down through generations of her family and held significant sentimental value.
“He scares me, knowing how he can be and the weapons he keeps in the house,” she said.
It transpired that the “weapons” referred to by the complainant were decorative items forming part of Bryant’s extensive Lord of the Rings memorabilia collection.
The defence said Bryant was genuinely remorseful and had not deliberately headbutted the officer.
He told the court between six and 10 officers attended the scene. Bryant had resisted arrest because he felt officers had been “heavy-handed” in his previous experience with police, and he and was concerned about his existing chest injury.
Sentencing, District Judge Smith said: “You have had a history of violent offences in the long distant past… This is hopefully not a return to behaviour we have seen in the past.”
Bryant was fined £50 for criminal damage and £200 for assaulting an emergency worker. He was also ordered to pay £50 compensation to the gnome’s owner and £50 to the police constable, as well as a £100 surcharge and £85 in court costs.
