Grudge Leads to Tyre Damage Conviction

Retired and at a loose end? Don’t know how to keep yourself occupied during those long idle days after the boss presents you with a watch, shakes your hand and sends you packing out the door? You could take up golf, travel with the wife, dabble in a rewarding spot of voluntary work – or you could nurture a two-year vendetta against a neighbour. A 70-year old Norwich man settled for this last option and embarked on an odyssey that recently ended in Norwich Magistrates Court.

Trevor Mallett – known to readers of the Norwich Evening News by the dramatic (but inaccurate) moniker the “OAP tyre slasher” – allegedly fell out with neighbour Carol Keable, 66, over a parking dispute a couple of years ago. It has been suggested that Mallet took exception to a vehicle parked opposite the front gate of his house, and decided to exact justice by “nailing” the offender, so to speak.

Two years down the track, CCTV cameras at the Hethersett Social Club captured grainy images of the former roofer showering the entrances to the club’s car park with inch-long roofing tacks. Footage taken on Friday March the 6 and Friday March 13 was viewed by former social club manager Ian Forkes (who on the second occasion also witnessed Mallett at work from a vantage point behind a can bank) and by his secretary – Carol Keable. Mrs Keable positively identified the tack scattering tyre damager.

On May 20 Mallett appeared in court and was found guilty of criminal damage. Upon delivering this verdict, the magistrates noted the potential danger posed by exposing tyres to nails. The court heard from police officer Glenn Hambling who had arrested and interviewed Mallett after investigating the case. Hambling stated “I seized a bucket of roofing nails and various nails from the shed. The bucket was easily accessible on the floor…when interviewed the defendant admitted he had had a falling out with a neighbour who worked at the social club.”

Following the court session Ian Forkes told the Evening News “I’m pleased he’s been found guilty. There have been a lot of strange goings on for a long time.”

In defence, Mallett’s court representative Chris Brown said that his client had “taken leave of his senses.” Mallett declined to comment after the case but Brown told the Evening News his client was “happy” with the outcome.