YOB THE BUILDER
Romanian ‘used digger to wreck homes worth £4m after getting sack’
A SACKED builder took revenge by going on a £4million wrecking spree at a development where he had worked, it was alleged yesterday.
Daniel Neagu used a digger to rip apart five newly-built bungalows weeks before buyers were due to move in, a court heard.
The 30-year-old Romanian is accused of causing criminal damage to the McCarthy and Stone retirement homes, each valued at about £800,000, on Saturday evening.
Neagu had been employed by subcontractor Fenton to work on the development in Buntingford, Hertfordshire.
Hatfield magistrates heard that after he was sacked the builder had allegedly taken another company digger to Romania and was told that the wages he was still owed would be withheld until it was returned.
Prosecutor Elaine McMillan said: ‘The allegation is that the defendant has taken a digger, has gone on to a housing development site and has used the digger to damage five new-build houses of estimated value of £4million. The background to this is that the defendant and some co-workers had been working on the building site and they have been sacked.
‘They have left the site with a company vehicle and are told that any wages owed will be put on hold until the vehicle was returned. The vehicle has a tracker and it’s been established that it’s in Romania.’
Neagu, from Harrow, North West London, spoke in court via video link from prison only to give his particulars and say he did not yet wish to enter a plea to the charge of criminal damage.
He was remanded in custody. His lawyer Sohail Bashir admitted that Neagu was ‘disgruntled’ but said the second digger had not been stolen.
He argued that the prosecution’s ‘very primitive’ estimated value of the damage had been exaggerated.
‘It’s right that this defendant has become disgruntled with his former employers relating to non-payment of wages,’ Mr Bashir said.
‘The suggestion that the company vehicle has been taken without the owners’ permission is not accepted.
‘Whilst I can see that the charge is a serious one, I’ve significant concern that the evaluation by the Crown has been egged up to make the charge more serious.’
Neagu will appear at St Albans Crown Court to enter a plea on September 10.
McCarthy and Stone said: ‘We are now awaiting a structural engineer’s report, so we can plan the work required to repair or rebuild these properties. We are absolutely devastated for the purchasers affected.’
‘Disgruntled with former employers’