By Oliver Hall
A man has been found guilty of criminal damage after he was caught on CCTV slashing all four tyres of a police car.
Magistrates were shown footage of Brett Timlett, 37, from Watford, bending down next to a police car and moments later the vehicle could be seen changing angle as the tyres deflated.
Later the same procedure was carried out by the same man, who was identified as Brett Timlett – a Watford man well known to police from previous dealings.
St Albans Magistrates Court heard that Timlett had been identified less than a month after the incident, from the CCTV pictures, by Inspector Andrew O’Connor.
In the three sets of images the man was seen to go behind the car and dart down, slash two of the marked police car’s tyres and walk off.
The same man returned sometime later and carried out the same procedure to the two remaining tyres.
Inspector O’Connor told the court he was “positive” the man in the CCTV was the same person he has seen around Watford for more than 20 years.
Timlett had denied the charge and said bad back would not enable him to move as easily as the suspect pictured in the CCTV.
He said: “It is not a movement I could freely do with the force it would take to slash or put holes in the tyres.”
Timlett was found guilty of causing criminal damage to four police tyres to the value of £181.92. He was released on bail for sentence on a date to be set.