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An engineer who for five months fired ball bearings from a catapult at an office building on his way to work, causing £260,000 of damage, today said: “I honestly don’t know why I did it.”

Southwark crown court heard that Terry Jones, a father from Croydon, wound down the window of his van to fire at 3 Sheldon Square in Paddington as he passed by on his morning commute. During five months of vandalism, he shattered 13 panes of glass, costing £20,000 each to replace.

A judge told Jones, 61, that it was the most “bizarre and inexplicable case I’ve ever had to listen to”, adding: “The gap between you going to prison and staying out is so narrow that you can’t see daylight through it.”

The building Jones fired at houses a hotel, fitness club and offices, including the headquarters of Prudential UK. He was arrested in March last year after police found him via his number plate.

Mark Sahu, for Jones, who admitted 13 counts of criminal damage, said his client had driven the same route to work for 30 years. “The only reason he chose that building was because it was in his line of sight,” he said.

Judge Andrew Goymer said people in the building could have been injured and told Jones: “To describe this behaviour as infantile is as much of an understatement as one can make.”

Mr Jones told the Standard: “They were just complete moments of madness. I honestly don’t know why I did it. I had no idea I was going to cause that kind of damage. I got the catapult for fishing but I never got to use it fishing, so I just wanted to use it. It was totally stupid.”

Jones was given a 12-month sentence suspended for a year, ordered to pay £2,000 compensation and do 240 hours of unpaid work.