Man admits to causing £4,000 damage at Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens after booze session

Would-be joiner Nathan Ewart put himself in the frame as the culprit who caused £4,000 of damage to doors at a museum - by being found drunken close by.

Ewart, 30, was discovered near Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens in Burdon Road soon after staff turned up for work and spotted the smashed rear opening.

Prosecutor Michael Rose said an attempt had been made to also open an internal door by someone using a piece of wood on Tuesday, September 29.

Crop-haired Ewart, of Watts Moses House, High Street East, Sunderland, was arrested and charged with causing criminal damage.

He confessed to his crime when he appeared in the dock at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court.

The court heard an estimated £4,000 of damage had been caused, which had fallen on Sunderland City Council to pay.

Mr Rose told the hearing a final cost of repairs had yet to be submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service by museum or council bosses.

He said: “At 7.30am it was noticed that a rear entrance door had been damaged and an internal door damaged.

“The second door had been worked, with a piece of wood as a leaver.

“The defendant was arrested nearby and was in a drunken condition. He was taken to a police station.”

Defence solicitor Syed Ahmed and a Probation Service representative in court said alcohol was a factor in jobless Ewart’s offending.

Mr Ahmed added: “The reality is that he is on benefits.”

However, when quizzed by District Judge Kathryn Meek, Ewart denied booze was an undue influence in his life.

And he added that he hoped to soon start a level 2 joinery course at college.

Judge Meek adjourned the case for a pre-sentence report, by which time she said she hoped the museum’s management would supply full repair costs.

She told Ewart he would be sentenced at the same court on the morning of Thursday, June 10.

He was bailed on condition he lives and sleeps at Watts Moses House, a block of supported housing units.

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