Man smashed £12,000 hotel windows after five nights on the street 'to get authorities' attention'

After several days of fruitless phone calls to the authorities and nights spent sleeping on a bench near the hotel, taking food from out of bins, Jayrvand deliberately damaged the windows in the hopes of being sent to prison to get shelter and food, Kidderminster Magistrates Court heard.

Prosecutor Aleigha Adams told the court on Thursday: "The defendant had become frustrated and he's used a metal pole to smash approximately 13 double-glazed windows. The estimated cost is £12,000

"[In a police interview] he said there had been a problem with his reference number not being linked to him.

"There has been some difficulty with housing him at the hotel; he had been in contact with various agencies - they were both passing him off to each other.

"He felt like he had to do something wrong to get the attention that he needed.

"He described grabbing a metal pole and smashing the windows at the hotel, and waiting for the police to arrive.

"He said: 'I called the police, because I smashed the windows.'"

Jayrvand was arrested, interviewed and charged with criminal damage. He pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity.

Speaking for Jayrvand in court, John McMillan told magistrates how the man had come to be living on the streets of Telford.

"Mr Jayrvand spent 40 days crossing Europe; he came across in a boat and he has been in the UK for about 10 days.

"When he arrived he surrendered to the immigration authorities, and he was processed and told that he would be considered as an asylum seeker but that would take some time to resolve.

"Initially he was housed in a hotel in London, but then told 'no, you will have to go up to Telford. There is accommodation there for you'.

"When he got to the Whitehouse Hotel in Telford there was some difficulty with his paperwork and the reference number seemed to have been written down wrongly.

"The staff at the Whitehouse Hotel told him that the number didn't link to him so they were unable to house him at the hotel.

"It was suggested that he should contact the migration helpline and the Home Office - and he has been attempting to do that.

"One organisation was saying 'we don't deal with that' and then the other one says 'no, that's not us, that's them'.

"I think I'm right in saying that the last five days he has been at or about the hotel but he hasn't been able to live there: he has been sleeping on a bench outside, in the rain.

"He has no money, no contacts, no support and nowhere to live. He has been taking waste food from bins to eat as his only form of sustenance.

"Having spent five days trying to sort it out and getting nowhere, he then took it upon himself to pick up a metal pole, smash a window, knowing that would bring his plight to the attention of the authorities, and then waited for the police to arrive.

"He has been exceptionally frustrated by everybody blaming everybody else and nobody doing anything about it while he was left out in the rain without any food, without any shelter, without any accommodation.

"He tells me that he could see no way out of his situation."

Jayrvand's motivation in smashing the windows was to be sent to prison "where he would get a roof over his head and a meal in his stomach", said Mr McMillan.

"He didn't want to spend another night out in the cold.

"He apologises for what he did but it was the only way he could think of concentrating minds and getting the attention he needed."

After hearing from both lawyers, the magistrates retired to their chambers to consider what sentence to pass on Jayrvand.

After they had deliberated roughly half an hour, they returned to court and the chair of the magistrates bench Vicki Quarton announced their "very difficult" decision.

"This can't cross the custody threshold," she said

"If we don't believe it crosses the custody threshold and probation can't do anything [partly because of Jayrvand's lack of English] all we can do is give you a conditional discharge, for six months.

"It means if you don't get into any more trouble in six months then this is finished, but if you commit any offences then you would be sentenced for this offence well as the new offence."

Jayrvand, through the interpreter, asked if there was anything else the court could do to help him.

"We can't do anything else," was the reply. "We're just a local court and we have no link to the Home Office.

"We can give you a phone number [for asylum seeker support], we don't know if it's one you have already rung.

"I would like to say in court that we are all very saddened by this and that you should be in this situation because of a number mistake.

"We hope you find someone to help you get sorted.

"That's it for today. Take care."