OVER £40K OF DAMAGE IN 'LUDICROUS' ATTACK

THOUSANDS of pounds of damage were caused when a man rammed a coach into his former boyfriend's flat in a "ludicrous, irresponsible, stupid and childish" attack.

- By ROB KENNEDY Court reporter

The damage caused by Ian Anderson

Ian Anderson was struggling to cope with the breakdown of his seven-year relationship when he decided to take the drastic action to try to "embarrass" the other man.

On January 21 last year, a month after the couple had split, staff at Liberty Coaches, in Cramlington, where Anderson worked as a yard man, noticed he had taken one of the buses.

CCTV showed him grabbing the keys, getting in the bus, ripping out the dash cam and driving it away.

Anderson's ex was inside his ground floor flat in Ashington when he heard a loud tooting noise outside. He checked his CCTV and saw a big white coach outside.

Lucy Todd, prosecuting, said: "The defendant drove towards the left of the flats, turning around before driving towards his address at speed. The coach collided with the wall of his bedroom. All the windows smashed and a radiator flew off the wall on to the floor."