Man woke at 2am to find a dad kicking at his door

A dad repeatedly banged on a man’s door in the early hours before trying to pour diesel through the letterbox.

The two men had briefly met a week before, when David Smith requested a cigarette, but the victim had none. They went on their separate ways, the court heard.

Then on October 23 last year, at around 2.40am, the victim was awoken to loud banging at his front door by Smith, 43, and another man.

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.

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.

Police quickly arrived to find Smith outside smoking a cigarette.

The victim was unable to open the door due to the damage, which cost £4,000 to fix.

In a statement read to the court, he said he had taken two overdoses as a result of the incident, that he was scared he would be targeted again and he felt like he was a ‘prisoner in his own home’.

Ian Metcalfe, mitigating for Smith, said there was ‘absolutely no intention’ to light the diesel. He accepted the defendant was intoxicated and that he was suffering with mental health problems at the time.

The court heard he had previous convictions for battery and causing grievous bodily harm.

Jailing him for two years, Recorder Michael Blakey said: “Clearly you have a problem with alcohol, and you clearly have a temper.

“For whatever reasons, your thoughts were muddled by alcohol.”

Smith, of Kiwi Street, Salford, previously admitted making threats to kill and criminal damage.

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