Drugged-up Brit abroad taken off flight home in Cyprus smashed up victim's house with sledgehammer

David Cousins, 40, was told he could not travel home in September so had to wait for a second flight.

But when he finally returned to the Waterlooville area the ‘red mist’ descended and he climbed in through a terrified householder’s window and proceeded to destroy the home.

Cousins was ‘running around the house smashing up various items,’ Portsmouth Crown Court heard in a remote session held during lockdown.

Jailing him for 27 months, judge Timothy Mousley QC said his actions were ‘terrifying violence’ and added: ‘This was disgraceful behaviour.’

Imogen Nelson, mitigating, added: ‘He accepts that he completely lost control of himself and that effectively a red mist came over him.

‘He was so enraged and he describes the incident as being a complete blur.

'He went on a rampage, and that was damaging a lot of things at that address.’

She said Cousins was ‘deranged’ and said his they were ‘actions of a man not in his rational mind’.

Ms Nelson added her client had been ‘taking drugs in large quantities whilst in Cyprus’ and while he sobered up to pay for a second flight it appeared ‘it would have an ongoing effect on him’ when he returned to the UK.

She said: ‘Following an incident he was removed from the flight back to the UK by staff and then held by the security staff.

‘He had to pay a substantial amount of money for new airfare and didn’t have anywhere to stay.’

He slept in a van and then went to Portsmouth Central police station but was told to go to another station for help, and ended up attacking the home instead.

Cousins had amassed a ‘massive debt,’ the court heard. Cousins, of no fixed address, was previously diagnosed with having a drug psychosis.

The defendant, who has 28 convictions for 45 previous offences, admitted affray and damaging property.

Previous convictions include public order offences and criminal damage.

The victims cannot be identified for legal reasons.

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