Wage issue For Window Cleaner

The Beamer gets it next!

Man goes on rampage over wages issue: A former window cleaner launched a campaign of harassment against one of his bosses over two weeks' wages he claimed he was owed. Andrew Atkin, 30, of Ilkeston Road, Radford, left the company last December but claimed he was still owed cash. When no money materialised, he damaged director Phillip Pascoe's Vauxhall Vivaro van, smashing windows and the windscreen. His actions caused £5,000 damage and cost the business £1,000, because the van was out of action, Nottingham Crown Court heard yesterday.

Then Atkin began sending text messages, suggesting Mr Pascoe's BMW would be next to be damaged, and demanding money and threatening to kick his head in. He also said he would do something to co-director Mark Butcher unless he was paid.

After he was arrested in February, Atkin accepted sending "horrible" messages to both men and expressed shame. He pleaded guilty to criminal damage on January 6, and putting Mr Pascoe in fear of violence by harassment, between January 1 and January 12 this year.

Recorder Andrew Easteal gave him a community order of 12 months, with a requirement to complete a thinking skills programme, and supervision from the probation service. A restraining order was imposed for five years, to stop him contacting Mr Pascoe and Mr Butcher, or going to an address in Westwood. The judge added: "There was, over a course of time between you and them, a significant dispute over monies you believed were owed."