Man trashed car and set fire to garage
ABUILDER has been jailed after setting fire to a family’s garage and taking a crowbar to their BMW.
Matthew Benjamin, from Shirenewton, near Chepstow, said he wanted to take revenge over a stolen tractor when he drove to a house belonging to a family who were once his friends. He embarked on a rampage which cost the Miller family more than £1,000.
The 39-year-old, of Earlswood Road, appeared at Cardiff Crown Court yesterday after pleading guilty to arson, burglary, criminal damage, drink-driving and driving while banned.
Benjamin drove his Ford Transit work van four miles to the Miller home at around noon on September 21 last year, the court heard.
Prosecutor Emma Harris said: “On arriving Mr Benjamin has snapped the metal lock on the garden gate and forced entry to the garage. He has taken tools and machinery from the garage and placed them in his van. He has smashed the windscreen of the BMW 1 Series.”
Jordan Miller had not been feeling well at work that day so he returned to his family home early that afternoon. As he approached the property he noticed the defendant going to and from the garage, carrying items into his van. Mr Miller kept his distance out of concerns for his safety.
He recognised Benjamin, having known him a long time. The defendant had been a friend of Mr Miller’s father before a dispute over the sale of a dog.
When Benjamin drove away Mr Miller saw the garage was alight. Neighbours helped him try to put the fire out with a hose before firefighters arrived and extinguished it.
Police arrived at Benjamin’s home soon afterwards and noticed he seemed to be drunk. He blew 75mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg. Benjamin told the officers: “I drank two cans after I got back.”
The defendant admitted he had been behind the wheel despite being banned four months earlier for a dangerous driving offence.
Police found a battery, gas canister and welding tool in a shipping container outside Benjamin’s home. He had stolen the items from the Millers.
Benjamin told police that one of the Millers had stolen a tractor from him a year earlier and he had broken into their garage “to get back”.
Ms Harris said: “He told officers he had been drinking the night before but not had anything that morning. He said he did not recall damaging the BMW but he said he had been swinging a crowbar around and this could have caused damage to the windscreen.”
Benjamin denied deliberately starting the fire – or knowing how it started – but admitted he’d had a cigarette in the garage, telling police: “I remember it being my last fag and I dropped the fag butt down.”
The burglary and criminal damage cost the Millers £1,254. Benjamin has nine previous offences including criminal damage being reckless as to whether life was endangered and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal. The defendant was remanded in jail in September following his latest crimes.
Karl Williams, mitigating, said: “Alcohol appears to underpin the offending behaviour. He now acknowledges this is a problem. His parents remain supportive.”
Mr Williams said his client had been drinking 10 to 15 pints a day while working from 6am until 7pm seven days a week in the run-up to the crime spree.
Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke sentenced Benjamin to a year and 10 months in jail and a driving ban lasting three years and 11 months. He must also pay the victims £1,254 in compensation.