[MetroUK] A £1.2 million home was ransacked by ‘evil’ children as young as 11, who caused more than £200,000 worth of damage using axes and chainsaws.The owners told a court they feel ‘distraught’ after the Grade-II property in Shanklin, Isle of Wight, was left looking like ‘a war zone’.
Joanna Pittard, husband Matt and their two daughters had planned to make it their family home before it was ‘absolutely trashed’ by the youths.
The group targeted the six bedroom house in a month-long spree of destruction, which included damaging a wrought-iron chandelier, flipping over antique furniture and even destroying the homeowner’s wedding dress.
They left ‘hardly anything untouched’ by wrecking lights, bathroom taps and squirting ketchup, bleach and paint everywhere between May and June last year.
Seven perpetrators, who are now all aged between 13 and 16 and cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted criminal damage to property at Isle of Wight Magistrates’ Court, where they were each fined £1,500.
In interviews with police, the youngsters admitted to various degrees of involvement in their ‘impulsive’ damage, with one revealing they had created a ‘slip and slide’ in the bathroom.
In mitigation, the court heard the teenagers had expressed their ‘regret and remorse’ for what happened and had all had ‘improvements’ in their behaviour and attitude since.
The teenagers were handed a 12 month referral order and ordered to pay £1,500 compensation for the ‘very personal impact on the family involved’.
