Dad Was Angry Because He Believed Man Was Using Drugs In Front of His Children

ANGRY dad Mark Garrod smashed a picture frame as he tried to evict a man he believed was using drugs in front of his children. Garrod was drunk when he went to speak to his ex-partner, who was visiting a friend, and found the man at the premises. Garrod

ANGRY dad Mark Garrod smashed a picture frame as he tried to evict a man he believed was using drugs in front of his children.

Garrod was drunk when he went to speak to his ex-partner, who was visiting a friend, and found the man at the premises.

"Garrod tried to pull the man out, he pushed him against the wall, knocking down a picture that fell to the floor and smashed," prosecutor Laura Mardell told Ely magistrates. "There were children in the house who were hysterical."

Garrod, 36, of Upton Place, Littleport, admitted causing criminal damage to the picture frame on April 26.

"My client was unhappy, he believed the man was using drugs where his children were, and thought he might drop needles or tablets, and his children might get hold of them," said Ann Gray, mitigating.

"He wanted to tell the man not to do drugs in front of his children or where his children might be."

Garrod had drunk three or four pints of lager before the incident, but was not intoxicated, she said.

"He admits he was angry, he felt his children were in a very vulnerable position," added Ms Gray. "The breaking of the picture was a by-product of that."

Garrod is still taking part in a domestic abuse programme with the probation service, as part of a two-year supervision order imposed last year.

Giving Garrod a 12-month conditional discharge and ordering him to pay �50 compensation and �30 costs, presiding magistrate Janet South told Garrod: "This was a stupid thing to do.