A 'practical joker' found himself in court after a video was posted on TikTok showing him pushing chocolate cake through a man's letterbox.
George Stewart thought it was funny to let himself be filmed shoving the sweet treat through somebody's door, while others egged the property. However, the 28-year-old soon had the smile wiped off his face when the video circulated on social media and he was identified by police.
A court heard that Stewart was subsequently arrested and charged with criminal damage, which he pleaded guilty to when he appeared in the dock at Newcastle Magistrates' Court. And the 'practical joke' has now hit him in the pocket after he was fined £40 and ordered to pay £85 costs, £50 compensation and a £16 victim surcharge.
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Prosecutor, Kinglsey Njoku, said the victim had left his home in Queen's Court, Arthur's Hill, to attend a football match in Sheffield on January 7 this year. Mr Njoku added: "The victim returned to find chocolate cake had been pushed through and lodged in his letterbox.
"There was also other items that had been thrown at the house but there's no evidence that the defendant was responsible for that. He does accept responsibility for the cake."
In a statement, the victim said: "As someone who struggles with their physical health and suffers from anxiety, depression and post traumatic stress disorder, it makes this incident very disheartening. I have trouble sleeping and I become worried when I hear noises outside my flat."
The court heard that Stewart, of Hamilton Place, in Arthur's Hill, had one previous conviction for a public order offence from 2017. Gregg Stephens, defending, said Stewart had considered the whole incident a practical joke.
Mr Stephens told magistrates: "Somebody videoed it and put it on Tik Tok, which is how he was traced. The video showed him pushing chocolate cake through the letterbox. He realises now that it was not very funny and it was stupid and childish behaviour."
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