You Tube paint vandal is jailed
VANDAL Darren Bill has been jailed for six months for
causing £15,000 worth of damage to a council's headquarters and
then posting a video of the paint attack on the internet.
Jobless Bill, aged 37, of Ashnell Road, Hartshill, was
remorseless as Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court was shown the video
of the attack on the night of May 12.
He told the court he had hurled paint at Stoke-on-Trent City
Council's main offices at the Civic Centre, in Stoke, in
protest at a £1,200 council tax bill and then posted the
results on internet site YouTube, fully expecting to be
caught.
Prosecutor Paul Spratt told the court: "Shortly after
midnight, the defendant and two others attended the council
offices.
"They had armed themselves with pots of paint and a mobile
phone, with which they proposed to film their activities.
"The plan was Bill would throw the paint. He did that and
his actions were filmed.
"A certain amount of paint was splattered on the wall quite
high, about 30ft off the ground.
"The film was then uploaded on to the computer. The council
at that stage were aware of the damage but no one had been
identified."
Mr Spratt said the city council had been left with a
cleaning bill of £15,200, which would have to be funded at
taxpayers' expense because building insurance wouldn't cover
that type of damage.
The short YouTube film, entitled Stoke-on-Trent City Council
Painted Up! shows Bill, a youth and another man, walking over
Glebe Bridge towards the brightly lit council offices with the
paint.
At one point the cameraman turns the camera round to show
close-ups of all three grinning faces and says, "naughty,
naughty, naughty".
It then shows Bill and the youth throwing paint over the
building from Copeland Street.
The film was seen on YouTube by a council employee, and
police were informed, who then arrested Bill.
Watch the video here(Caution this video contains
swearing which may offend)
Mr Spratt told the court: "The defendant admitted it and
said, 'I expected you were coming'."
Defending Bill, solicitor Guy Mathieson told the court: "It
is difficult to mitigate, because this crime is fully
justified, in Bill's view.
"He went to the council when he got into financial
difficulty, he felt they were unwilling to help him.
"On top of that, he received a council tax bill for £1,200,
which he felt was adding insult to injury. That's why this
protest took place.
"He posted it on the internet to publicise it and made no
attempt to cover his identity."
Sentencing Bill, Deputy Circuit Judge Peter Stretton said:
"You have caused a considerable amount of damage that will have
to be paid for by those who do pay their taxes."
29 Comments
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by jackie, hartshill
Monday, August 11 2008, 4:08PM
“i think hes a nut case and should grow up and go get a job.”
by david, Stoke
Monday, August 11 2008, 7:54AM
“Bugger Sharia, the guys a hero, OK a dirty, smelly, useless, waste of a life hero, but he did what most of us would have loved to do. Well done!”
by th, normacot
Sunday, August 10 2008, 8:57PM
“15 k 4 cleaning, what do those on unpaid work -community orders do
system is a joke
bring in sharia”
by th, normacot
Sunday, August 10 2008, 8:55PM
“y pay 15k n e way i thort that those on community orders - unpaid work - did thi sort of thing
the system is a joke
bring in shariah”
by chris, Bradwell
Sunday, August 10 2008, 1:12PM
“£15,000 to clean some paint off????? I think the police should be looking inside the council to find out who is fiddling what??!??!!!
You want to know why council tax bills are so high.. here is the example of the council wasting the money.. If I had the power, I would get those good for nothing, over paid, brainless wasters, from the council off their fat whatsits and up the scaffolding cleaning the paint off.. actually earn the money instead of forcing out of joe public.
If there was ever a revolution to topple this government and council.. I would be first in line!
£15k for paint cleaning?...shesh....”
by Puzzled, Stoke on Trent
Sunday, August 10 2008, 7:58AM
“15k to clean his mess, but how much is it costing to keep him in relative luxury? How much, I wonder, is that going to cost each of us who face our responsibilities? Why on earth did they not give him some turps and make him clean it up?
Alternatively, leave it as a scar of the battle between the council and ratepayers. Or take that one step further and they could offer people the chance to throw different colours of paint for a fee (goes into our coffers) and we could have a new piece of artwork for the city!!! How much would we have to pay for a Tracy Emins?
Will he still have to pay the rates he owes? Or are we also subsidising him for that? What a crazy world!”
by Mark, Kidsgrove
Sunday, August 10 2008, 7:15AM
“I should think so as well the big chav he is.
Stoke Council waste tax payers money on a weekly basis so it's hardly surprising that the tax payer is footing the bill for this one also.”
by LS, Staffs
Saturday, August 09 2008, 11:14PM
“He's unemployed but did you notice the mobile phone in his hand in the picture. Also he must have a computer to post the video on. Not bad for someone who dosn't work. Instead of sending him to prison they should of had him picking litter or scrubbing the streets of Stoke it sure needs it!”
by jacqui, bucknall
Saturday, August 09 2008, 8:59PM
“I'd have donned the marigolds for 15k!! Council... what council? You have caused my hard working, tax paying family to near seperation with your constant errors and rude uncooperative manner regards council tax bills! Our lives have been miserable. Yet you exhuberantly squander our money!! Come on kids mummy's going away for 6 months... get those marigolds on we'll be better off when I get back trust me... now where is that paint???!!!!”
by Anon, Mow Cop
Saturday, August 09 2008, 7:47PM
“Reading this case, it makes you wonder who else like him are frequenting the streets of Stoke.”