A man who showed up at an estate agency branch on the Isle of Wight with a knife following a disagreement over the valuation of his flat has been sentenced at court.
Peter Lovell of Granville Road, Totland, attended the Isle of Wight Crown Court for sentencing on Monday, after previously pleading guilty to criminal damage and two charges of possessing a knife in a public place at Pittis Estate Agents.
Annabel Hazlitt, prosecuting, said the 40-year-old wanted to put his flat on the market and contacted Pittis for a valuation on 6 February 2023.
Hazlitt told the court that, on 21 April, an agent from Pittis contacted Lovell about a price reduction, which infuriated him.
On 12 June, Lovell entered the Pittis branch in Freshwater, with two agents inside.
The prosecution said Lovell was holding a dark grey four-inch knife and began stabbing counters and computer screens, cutting phone lines and the adverts in the windows, before tipping over a desk.
Hazlitt said that after he put down the knife, one of the agents was able to grab it and lock themselves in a back room. But Lovell brandished another knife and cut the phone line the other agent was using to contact police.
Jonathan Underhill, defending, suggested a suspended sentence to allow probation to help his client get to the bottom of what happened.
Lovell has no pre-existing mental health concerns and still intends to sell his flat, the defence said.
Recorder Daniel Sawyer handed Lovell a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, to include 150 hours unpaid work.
If he became this frustrated with the agent – and this deserved a custodial in my opinion, then they should have jailed him as a pre-emptive strike before solicitors got involved!!
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Wtf suspended sentence??
He should have got 10 years and the agents given the flat as compensation!
Isn’t there someone serving 10 years for stealing a phone at moment?
Guarantee the flat is being sold in divorce and this nut is just trying to buy time.. ( been doing this too long)
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Suspended sentence to allow probation to help his client get to the bottom of what happened? How do these solicitors sleep at night? So much for being tough on knife crime, he had TWO remember!
Like other posters I do not understand why he did not get a custodial sentence. He made those agents fear for their lives.
To answer the defence solicitor, what happened was that your client went postal and took not one, but two knives and threatened two estate agents after smashing up their property. For that he deserves jail time and a large proportion of the money from the sale of the flat should go to them as compensation. Got it now?
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
He should be doing double time – once for knife offences & twice for picking Arun Estates ……
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register