Couple’s £1.2million grade II listed home is ransacked by children who use chainsaws, hammers and axes to leave property ‘looking like a warzone’

• The six-bedroom home in the Isle of Wight was targeted by ‘mindless’ youths 

A couple’s £1.2million grade II listed home was ransacked by children who used chainsaws, hammers and axes to leave the property looking like ‘a war zone’, a court has heard. 

The six-bedroom home in Shanklin, Isle of Wight, was targeted by ‘mindless’ youngsters who went on to damage a chandelier, antique furniture and the homeowner’s wedding dress. 

According to a report by The Times, a court heard chainsaws, axes and sledgehammers were pinched from the garage and used in ‘every bedroom of the property’ by the youths, leaving the house looking like a ‘war zone’.

Couple Joanna and Matt Pittard were set to make the house their family home before it was completely ruined, it was heard. 

The group of children – including two girls – allegedly left ‘hardly anything untouched’ by damaging bathroom taps, squirting bleach and paint and shattering 22 windows. 

The six-bedroom home in Shanklin, Isle of Wight, was targeted by ‘mindless’ youngsters who went on to damage a chandelier, antique furniture and the homeowner’s wedding dress (File image of Shanklin) 

A court heard chainsaws, axes and sledgehammers were pinched from the garage and used in ‘every bedroom of the property’

The youths – the eldest aged 15 – caused the damage between May and June last year.

Seven youngsters who are now aged between 13 and 16 admitted criminal damage to property at Isle of Wight magistrates’ court. They were each fined £1,500. 

Ann Smout, for the prosecution, said: ‘Joanna and Matt Pittard were at that address over Easter in April 2022.’

She added: ‘They had a week there and left the property clean and tidy and in very, very good order.’

The pair then went away for around a month – with a gardener alerting them that there ‘may be some damage’ to the house on June 3, prompting their return the next day, the court heard. 

Smout explained to the court that the work needed to fix the property was ‘complex’ because of its listed status. 

They have currently spent more than £35,000 on repairs – with more work still to be done. 

One estate agent claimed that the damage to the property had diminished its market value by between £250,000 to £300,000. 

In a statement read to the court, Mrs Pittard said: ‘From being a beautiful, historic building, it is a derelict shell of itself.’

During mitigation the court heard that the youths showed their ‘regret and remorse’ for what they did and had displayed ‘improvements’ in their behaviour since. 

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