Drunken man wanted to ‘take neighbour’s face off’ with a claw hammer

HE CALLED THE POLICE HIMSELF

A DRUNK man took a carpet stretcher and a claw hammer to a neighbour’s flat with the intention of “taking his face off” with them.

Derby Crown Court heard how Justin Hardwick “just snapped” after suffering two years of bother with another man at their block of flats.

The 40-year-old picked up the weapons and stormed up to see the victim, using them on his door. But then realising what he had done it was he who called police.

Now Hardwick, who works as an industrial cleaner making a Tesco store Covid-safe, has been spared immediate custody.

Handing him a ninemonth jail term, suspended for a year, Recorder Adrian Reynolds said: “The irony is that if I lock you up I take you from a situation where you are helping to deal with Covid to one where I would be putting you at its mercy.

“You are doing a really responsible job and you are caring for your parents.

“But on that day, while heavily in drink, you reacted to a situation in a way you know was wrong.

“We all have to put up with the stresses of life but to take a hammer and a carpet stretcher was the worst thing you could do.”

Eddie Leonard, prosecuting, said the incident took place on February 18 at a property in Birchwood Crescent, Grangewood, Chesterfield.

She said Hardwick and the victim both lived in the same block of flats and on the day in question the police received a phone call from him telling them what had happened.

Miss Leonard said: “They arrived and he was stressed, upset and angry. They noticed a four-litre bottle of cider which was almost empty.

“He told them he had been involved in incidents with the other man on at least four other occasions. “He said he took a carpet stretcher and a claw hammer to his flat because he wanted to take his face off.

“He said he used them to damage the flat door.

“He said he just snapped due to the nuisance caused by the other man over the past two years.” Hardwick, of Mercaston Close, Holme Hall, pleaded guilty to threatening a person in a public place and criminal damage.

Gregor Purcell mitigating, said his client had shown an “inability to react to a situation” due to drink.

He said: “His behaviour was shameful, he says as much in his pre-sentence report. He knows he is in peril of custody.”

He said he just snapped due to the nuisance caused by the other man over the past two years. Eddie Leonard