A Greater Manchester businessman who put up a poster branding a vandal ‘a dirty pervert’ was hauled into court – after the man who smashed his window claimed he was ‘offended’.
Nazier Din, 44, was so infuriated no-one would be prosecuted for smashing his bay window with a brick, he put up the sign over the boarded up frame saying “a dirty pervert drug dealing grass did this.”
But the company boss received a visit from police who got a tip off about the sign and warned him he faced arrest for public order offences.
Mr Din taped over the word ‘pervert’ and did not name the culprit but officers were not satisfied and up to three detectives went to his house to pull him in for questioning.
Mr Din was later charged with using threatening, abusive, insulting words and behaviour to cause harassment, alarm and distress after it is believed the suspect went to police saying he had been ‘offended’ by the sign.
The father of two faced a two month court ordeal before he agreed to accept a caution in return for prosecution lawyers not proceeding to a trial.
Today Mr Din, from Bury, Greater Manchester is facing a £1,000 legal bill and his DNA and fingerprints will be on the national database.
The vandal who hurled a brick through the window causing £2,500 damage will not face any action.
”For two months this made my life hell,” Mr Din said.
“I was very upset with the British justice system and how the police can waste valuable time and money on this when there are criminals out there – murderers, rapists, drug dealers – and they come after me for a poxy sign that 2,500 people said they weren’t bothered about.
“I’m disgusted the vandal has got away with it and I was prosecuted. I want to know why he hasn’t been prosecuted. Why did I have to go through the courts for two months?
“There was no name on the sign – so how it could cause any distress.”
Mr Din sais he feels like he was treated like a common criminal, yet he was supposed to be the victim of crime.
“The first complaint made was by the man who I believe broke the window,” he said.
“My solicitor asked the police why he wasn’t arrested when he made his complaint yet they said they couldn’t prove anything as he had made no admissions.
”What I can’t understand is why anyone would be angry about that sign unless they knew it was referring to them.
“I never intended to offend anyone – if anything this was a joke at the expense of the vandal – and he wasn’t even named.”
Mr Din claims 2,500 signed a petition saying the sign didn’t offend them. He said: “Everybody was laughing at it and realised it was me playing a joke.
”But I was arrested at my home in front of my wife by three detectives – it seems totally over the top.”
Mr Din, who has operated his accident management and car hire firm for 12 years, found himself in trouble in November last year after the yob put a brick through the offices of his company MCM Ltd.
The name of the prime suspect was given to police but officers were unable to prosecute him due to lack of evidence.
An angry and infuriated Mr Din then put up the yellow poster over a piece of chipboard only to be threatened with arrest days later.
He taped over the word ‘pervert’, and mindful of possible complaints from passers-by, he added another poster saying: “Apologies: this sign is not meant to offend the general public”.
But Mr Din was warned again about the sign and claims he was about to have it taken down when officers arrested and charged him.
Ironically he was in the police station when a new window was scheduled to be fitted and the sign taken down – but the job had to be cancelled as a result of his arrest.
Mr Din attended a hearing before a district judge at Bury magistrates court, but the charges were dropped before he was due to face trial on March 10.
He added: ”First and foremost, I would like to apologise if we caused any offence, because it was never our intention to do this. We wanted people to know that I was a victim of a crime and that the office had not shut down.
“I only put the sign up out of frustration, I felt it was the only thing I could do. The broken window was costing me £2,500 to replace and the person who broke it kept goading me about not being charged by police.”
Mr Din said he ‘just wanted to have the last laugh’ and wishes the ordeal never happened.
“‘When police came to see me initially, they said the sign was causing offence to some people and advised me to remove it. I had been trying to arrange for this to happen before I was arrested.”
Mr Din said that all he ever really wanted was for the vandal to be punished for his crime.
In a statement released by the Crown Prosecution Service, they said all the evidence was thoroughly reviewed by a Senior Crown Prosecutor in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors.
”Following discussions with Greater Manchester Police, a joint decision was made that the defendant was suitable to receive a police caution for the offence, which he had made full admissions to,” the statement read.
“Once the defendant had received the caution from the police, the CPS formally discontinued the case against the defendant.
“The CPS and the police use out-of-court disposals whenever possible to offer a proportionate response to low level offending and to deliver swift, simple and effective justice, thus freeing up the police, CPS and the courts to deal with more serious cases.”
Picture courtesy of perthhdproductions, via Flickr, with thanks
