Roof stand-off yob had crystal meth hidden inside him
A MAN hurled roof tiles and broke off chimneys on up to 10 houses during a four-hour stand-off with emergency services.
Residents in Failsworth were forced to evacuate for their own safety after James Hardman, 29, climbed up onto the terrace-house roofs.
Passersby initially saw him running around and knocking on windows asking for help before he made his way up to the roof. He then went ‘chimney to chimney’ and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
Ashton Road West was cordoned off by police for up to six hours and 15 to 20 firefighters were in attendance. The total cost to the fire service was more than £8,000.
Hardman, of Oldham, broke a skylight with a hammer he had found on one of the roofs and entered the loft area before he was detained and sectioned under the Mental Health Act. He pleaded guilty to causing a public nuisance and five offences of criminal damage.
At around 12.50pm on December 27 last year, a man saw Hardman running along the front gardens of Wagstaff Drive banging on windows and asking for help, prosecutor Rachel Widdicombe said. The man went home to get his mobile phone so he could call the police as he was concerned for Hardman’s welfare. When he returned, he found Hardman had climbed up onto the roof of a house on Ashton Road West and refused to come down. A number of residents tried to help him when he was asking them to call his mum, the prosecutor said.
Hardman also pulled off TV aerials and threw them down the back of the houses, the court heard. When the police arrived a cordon was put in place and a number of negotiators and senior officers were sent to assist Hardman.
He said the ‘people in the houses’ had been chasing him and that’s why he ended up on the roof.
By 5pm, Hardman’s mum had attended and was trying to speak to
him, at which point he had entered the loft of the house and was detained. When he was taken to hospital he admitted having crystal meth hidden up his bottom.
In a victim personal statement, a resident said the damage cost £800 to repair, and another said they had struggled to sleep after having to spend up to £1,000 to repair the damage so close to Christmas. The sentencing judge, Recorder Neil Usher, said: “It seems to me that you committed these offences during a drug-induced psychotic episode.” Hardman, of Corwen Court, was handed a 12-month community order, 20 days of rehabilitation activity requirements and a 12-month drug rehabilitation programme.