Salford man found dad banging at his door before pouring diesel through his letterbox
Salford man found dad banging at his door before pouring diesel through his letterbox
Share:
A man repeatedly banged on a door in the early hours before trying to pour diesel through the letterbox. David Smith, from Salford, has been jailed after attempting to pour diesel into the house of a man after first walking up to the door and banging on it. The two men had briefly met a week before, when Smith requested a cigarette, but the victim had none and they went on their separate ways, the court heard.
The other man was also charged in relation to the incident but prosecutors offered no evidence and the case against him was dropped. “The defendant was clearly the leading role and directing (the other man) what to do,” prosecutor Justin Hayhoe said.
CCTV from the hallway showed Smith walk up to the man’s door before the dad began to bang on it with his fist. He continued, kicking the door and then shouting: “Open your f****** door, you s*** bag!” Smith then noticed the CCTV camera and turned it away, though it still recorded some aspects of the incident.
He was then seen to briefly leave, going to his van which was parked outside and removing a Jerry can containing ‘diesel’, the court heard. Smith was seen to cut a hosepipe to size before returning back to the door, reported the Manchester Evening News.
He continued demanding the man open the door and made a number of false and unfounded allegations about him. When a neighbour, who was also woken up by the noise, came to the door, he told them ‘not to worry because it was nothing to do with them’.
The man told him he had called the police, but Smith replied that he ‘didn’t give a s***’ and that he didn’t care, and that he was going to set him on fire. In the footage, which was shown to the court, the can was turned upside down as he attempted to pour the liquid into the flat through the letterbox. No diesel was found in the flat.
