Court Man with plank threatened staff at city hotel
AHOMELESS man demanding a room in a Bristol hotel housing people in lockdown bashed up the reception with a plank.
Travelodge in Redcliffe was helping to take people off the city’s streets five days into England’s first period of lockdown from March 23.
Bristol Crown Court heard Benjamin Drury went to the premises, demanded that he be checked in immediately, and set about the front desk with a piece of wood.
The receptionist was so alarmed that she bolted to a staff room, the court heard.
Drury, 35, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to affray and possessing an offensive weapon on March 27.
Judge Julian Lambert jailed him for 12 months.
He told Drury: “You like to dictate to people how they should treat you. “I’m afraid you can’t do that.” Neil Treharne, prosecuting, told the court the defendant, who wasn’t on the hotel’s list of people to help, entered the reception and started hitting things with a plank, causing a staff member to flee.
Mr Treharne said: “They were housing homeless people, putting them up in Travelodge.
“He (Drury) was shouting, waving a plank and saying ‘you better check me in now, don’t tell me I’m not on the list and you are not going to let me in, someone will be hurt’.”
The court heard the receptionist fled to a staff room and stayed there until Drury left.
Simon Macfarlane, defending, said his client had been homeless for some 17 years and accepted he had a deficit in thinking skills and would accept help.
The court heard that, since the incident, Drury has found hostel accommodation and has reduced drug use.
Mr Macfarlane said: “He wishes to knock drug use on the head once and for all.
“He has been battling since the age of 17 with drug use.
“He knows he will not be able to pursue the bright future he would like without the help and support of professionals around him.”