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A man who went absolutely ape in a phone shop after they wouldn’t give him a refund caused £20,000 worth of damage and a further £15,000 in lost earnings, a court has heard.
Jason Codner became Internet-famous in June when he was filmed by a passerby as he calmly and deliberately smashed the Shinola out of a T-Mobile store in Manchester.
When police arrived, he said, “Do you think I give a f***? Have you seen what I’m capable of?” the Sun reports.
He appeared at Manchester Magistrates Court yesterday, where he fessed up to criminal damage, threatening words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress — and possessing cannabis. Manchester Crown Court will decide his fate later this month.
“The defendant asked the store manager about the refund and he was advised that the refund could not be provided,” said prosecutor Subhanur Chowdhury, as reported by the Manchester Evening News. “At this point the defendant became irate and began to shout and swear.”
“There isn’t a great deal of dispute about what went on,” admitted Codner’s lawyer Dan Weed, who said that the next hearing will see evidence of mitigating circumstances for his client’s behaviour.
Codner threw desk phones and keyboards out of the shop’s window, then went ballistic on some monitors, knocked down shelves and counters and sprayed a fire extinguisher everywhere. The shop had to be shut for three days to clean up the mess.
The bull in the phone shop had apparently been having technical difficulties with a new blower, although his specific problem was not reported. Hopefully it wasn’t a failure to upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich.
Have you ever been tempted to go postal in a phone shop? Has a mobile ever driven you to fits of uncontrollable Hulk-like fury? Go nuts in the comments, or calm yourself with our most tranquil Facebook page.
