An aggrieved computer operator carried out a ‘reve

An aggrieved computer operator carried out a ‘revenge’ attack
causing more than pnds stlg 200,000 worth of damage to his former
partner’s business, a court was told.

Former public schoolboy Francis Hughes, 42, armed himself with a
baseball bat and ‘systematically smashed’ valuable equipment belonging
to computer printing firm Printware Ltd.

headed by Mr Kevin Jones who
he felt had ‘deceived’ him.

Hughes, of Kilmarsh Road, Hammersmith, admitted criminal damage
at the offices of Printware Ltd.

in Tileyard Road, Holloway.

Snaresbrook Crown Court had heard that Printware Ltd.

was formed
by Mr Jones in October 1989 and he and his wife became joint share
holders of the firm.

Hughes acquired assets of the company and joined as a production
manager in May, 1990, said Mr Karl Scholz, prosecuting.

In February last year he was appointed a director, although
not of Printware but of a separate business called Printware Direct.

Counsel explained that it was not clear whether he was aware that
Printware Direct had no assets and was ‘effectively not trading.

‘
In November, 1991, he resigned from that position and early this
year he gave up working at Printware Ltd.

as a computer operator
earning about pnds stlg 20,000 a year.

Mr Scholz said that whether Hughes ‘harboured a sense of
grievance’ against Mr Jones or ‘whether he felt there was a
conspiracy to remove him is not necessary to establish for the
purpose of these proceedings.

‘
On March 12 this year Hughes travelled to Printware’s offices
and in the early hours of the next morning he got in through a broken
window.

‘He brought with him a baseball bat and wine which he had brought
with the intention of pouring into printing machines.

‘Then he set about damaging most of the valuable equipment in the
office,’ said Mr Scholz.

Counsel described how Hughes ‘systematically caused damage to
the value of approximately pnds stlg 151,000’ by damaging laser
printers, computers and data discs while putting back-up equipment
into toilet bowls.

The company is said have lost another pnds stlg 50,000 in
losts earnings.

He later told a security guard to call police after telling
him: ‘I smashed the place up, I got revenge on my partner.

I
think I will go to prison for this.

‘
Hughes, a married man with three children, was a former
pupil at Woodbridge Public School and got 10 ‘O’ levels
and two ‘A’ levels.

Mr Michael Grieve, defending Hughes, said that in the late 1980s
‘computers had developed into an obsession’ for him.

His own company Rose Publishing ran into financial troubles when
he ‘transferred substantial quantities of his computer equipment into
Printware,’ continued counsel.

‘He had always been under the impression that he was a director
with a share holding in a company that was trading.

‘
The court had heard that Printware Direct had no assets and was
not trading.

‘That was typical of the way Hughes was being manipulated and
deceived by a man who wanted to take him for what he was worth and
then dump him,’ said Mr Grieve.

Counsel said that it was ‘the last straw’ when on March 12 Hughes
found his computer with all his personal business data had been taken
by Mr Jones.

The court heard that at the time Hughes, whose father had
recently died, was also having both marriage and financial
problems.

Judge Patrick Halnan adjourned sentencing him until July 17 while
psychiatric and social enquiry reports are prepared.

ENDS