'S*** COMPANY!'
Moment unpaid builder filmed himself trashing 5 new homes worth £4m
Daniel Neagu filmed himself ramming into the retirement homes whole whistling the tune to Freed From Desire
THIS is the shocking moment a sacked builder yelled "whoop whoop" as he filmed himself trashing five new homes worth £4million in a row over unpaid wages.
Romanian Daniel Neagu, 31, was today jailed for four years after he smashed into the homes with music blaring from his digger as a resident egged him on.
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Dramatic footage of the 40-minute rampage, which was filmed on a GoPro camera and iPhone, shows him repeatedly ram into the retirement bungalows causing £1million worth of damage.
He shouted out "F***ing s**t company" while whistling the tune to Freed From Desire and ranting in Romanian.
At one point, he tells a stunned onlooker he is owed £6,000, saying: "I decided even if get in trouble I did it for a reason, because I didn't get paid, you know what I mean?"
The passer-by replies: "Go back in and smash up another one."
As the digger ploughs into another home in Buntingford, Herts, Neagu says: "Beautiful houses, you have to take it down and rebuild it, that's because you didn't want to pay me."
Having already wrecked four homes he then destroyed a fifth before declaring "Right, I’ve had enough. Voila. Could be enough, isn't it?"
'I WANT TO GIVE THEM A LESSON'
He captured the bizarre exchange on his iPhone during his rampage in Buntingford, Hertfordshire, last August, which has been played in court.
During a pause in the destruction he spoke to a couple telling them: "I'm not a dangerous guy, if you like call the police, you can call the police.
"I did it because I didn't get the money. I used to work for McCarthy and Stone and they didn't pay me.
"I paid all the money I had in my account. So I decided even if I get in trouble at least I did it for a reason."
Although Neagu claimed he worked for McCarthy and Stone it emerged in court he actually worked for a company called Fentons who were sub-contracted by McCarthy and Stone.
A man was heard saying: "A Saturday at 5pm, brand new built houses - it doesn't make sense. It makes sense now, you're p***ed with them."
Neagu explained he employed other workers and replied: "They ask £400,000 for each house, they sell already three of them - but they don't have £6,000 to pay me.
"I just want to give them a lesson what is going on, if you don't pay the guys."
The resident said: "We are not going to tell anyone, go back. Go back in and bash up another."
The video showed him continuing to destroy the fifth bungalow before police arrived.
I did it because I didn't get the money... they didn't pay me
Builder Daniel Neagu in the video footage played in court
The "disgruntled" builder, of Harrow, north-west London, then filmed a message to his employers McCarthy & Stone after leaving the couple.
He said: "I hope you are happy with that and this is a good lesson for you to understand - next time, you pay your boys, your hard workers."
Panning the camera to the destroyed homes before getting back into his digger to continue his rampage, he said: "Look at this, your beautiful houses, £400,000, woowoowoo.
"Oh look at that - that looks bad. You have to knock it down and rebuilt it. That's because you didn't want to pay me, me and my boys.
"We are hard workers but we expect to be paid, Jesus Christ."
'YOU WERE RELAXED AND NOT ASHAMED'
He then told an officer: "I recorded. I did it. I used to work in here and I didn't get paid, that's why I did that."
The footage was played in St Albans Crown Court ahead of his sentencing for about £1million worth of criminal damage to the five new build bungalows.
Jailing him, Judge Stephen Warner total him he had caused "wholesale destruction".
The judge went on: "The result was the effective destruction of five of those retirement homes that had been earmarked for occupation. You went to the length of recording your activities.
"The footage is truly shocking. The words you spoke quite openly showed your motivation on to teach a lesson those who had not paid you a lesson.
"You were perfectly relaxed and not ashamed.
"This was planned, deliberate and wanton vandalism involving the destruction of other peoples' property undertaken by you as a pure act of revenge.
"It caused financial loss on a very significant scale. Even if they did owe you money, even if there were threats or you felt belittled that cannot begin to justify your conduct that day which is unacceptable in a civilised society.
"Quite apart from economic loss this has caused very significant inconvenience to the proposed occupiers of those retirement homes."
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A spokesperson for McCarthy and Stone told The Sun Online: “Following the incident at Royal Gardens in Buntingford last year, the decision was taken to
demolish the five affected properties after inspections carried out by independent structural engineers. Work then began to rebuild the homes and three are already occupied, ahead of the revised timescales. Customers are set to move in to the final two properties in the summer as
planned.
“The satisfaction of our customers is always our priority and we have remained in regular contact with our purchasers at Buntingford to keep them up-to-date on progress and to offer them all the support that is required. We are grateful to them and their families for their patience and understanding throughout this period.
“The original incident at Royal Gardens related to a payment dispute between a sub-contractor and one of its employees. It did not relate to any payment dispute with McCarthy and Stone."
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Worker trashes row of brand new bungalows in JBC digger rampage through a Buntingford building site
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It's estimated a total of £1million worth of damage was caused
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