This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Three “mindless” youths shared a bottle of vodka as part of pre-exam night out before deliberately trashing a model railway exhibition worth £30,000, a court has heard.

The schoolboys, along with a fourth defendant, went on a 4am rampage by pushing tables over and throwing parts of displays against the wall.

The four 16-year-olds admitted criminal damage at Lincoln youth court on Monday. Three of the youths were handed 12-month referral orders (community sentences) and each told to pay £500 compensation due to the “not repairable or replaceable” damage, plus £85 prosecution costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

Magistrates ordered their parents to pay the money on their behalf because none of the boys has any income. The fourth was told he would be sentenced on 2 September.

Members of the Market Deeping Model Railway Club said a “life’s work” had been destroyed during the vandalism on 18 May – with some displays taking years to complete.

The defendants, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had decided to play football in the gym at the Stamford Welland Academy in Stamford, Lincolnshire, and continued their game despite displays being destroyed.

The court heard police were called due to a notification from the school’s alarm system and the youths were eventually found in the school toilets and arrested.

More than £107,000 has been raised by members of the public to repair the exhibitions – which the club chairman said he was overwhelmed by.

Sir Rod Stewart – a longstanding model rail enthusiast – personally donated £10,000 to the club after hearing about the vandalism.

At the sentencing hearing, chairman of the bench of magistrates, John Lock, told the youths: “In nearly 20 years on the bench, I cannot recall such a case as this, of mindless, wanton destruction. It beggars belief.

“In the dead of night, when people are in their beds in the main, you were out playing football, which is extraordinary at that time of night.

“You came across the displays and models, all of you ... and not content with kicking a ball, you then went on a rampage. The mindlessness comes shining through.”

Despite the damage caused, the magistrates decided not to send the boys to custody. Lock continued: “You have all got good futures and it is right that you make best use of them. There will be a referral order. It will last for 12 months, which is the longest you can make an order for – there would be a wish that you could make it longer, but you can’t. Nothing can compensate for what you did that night.”

﻿The court heard how one model railway enthusiast from St Neots Model Railway Club, John Kneeshaw, who had contributed to the exhibition, had suffered £15,000 worth of damage.

One of Kneeshaw’s displays, which was around six metres (20ft) long, 3.75 metres deep and 1.75 metres wide, was valued at around £5,000 – with the models taking 20 to 25 years to build.

Reading a statement by Kneeshaw to the court, prosecutor Shelley Wilson said: “You can’t just buy them, they are all made by me and are unique.

“I am in total shock as to what has happened and why. The cost emotionally is very high – this is years of work and I do not understand why anyone would want to do this. It is truly devastating … the damage is not repairable or replaceable.”

One of the boys’ defence solicitors, Lynford Fuller, said they were “in drink”, which may have “impaired their judgment”.

The youths apologised for their behaviour, while their parents said they were ashamed and disappointed.