Jail for drunk students who put a TV in the oven

Joshua Hart, 20, and 21-year-old Daniel Gyi decided to put the front part of the TV monitor in the electric oven in the kitchen of their flat in Endcliffe Crescent, Sheffield, after they had spent the afternoon drinking.

Two weeks previously, biomedical sciences student Gyi and Hart, who was studying Spanish and maths, had finished their first year exams at the University of Sheffield.

Prosecutor Elisabeth Martin told Sheffield Crown Court the pair had spent the afternoon in the pub drinking and watching football before returning to their four-storey block of student flats.

She told the court seven other people - two men and five women - were also in the block at the time of the incident, which was around 3.30am on June 26 last year.

Describing what happened on the night she said: “A chair that’s in the hallway of the flat had been set alight and gone out.

“In the communal area of the flat itself a bag had been placed over one of the alarms and the heat detectors.

“A further heat sensor in the kitchen had been covered up with a plastic bag, a Tesco carrier bag.

“An appliance was found in the oven. What happened in this particular chain of events was that a monitor, a TV monitor, had been placed in the electric oven.”

Ms Martin said Hart and Gyi had been drinking in the pub during the afternoon before returning home where they then decided to throw the television off the top of the block of flats.

The front part broke off and they took this back inside, she said, before setting fire to a chair and putting the television in the oven.

When thick smoke started pouring from the oven, the defendants panicked before they left the flat, she said.

In police interviews she said Gyi said: “We did it, we put the TV in the oven and switched it on. When it started to smoke we put the extractor fan on.”

The court heard he also told police: “we just fancied burning it for no reason”. Hart, she said, described himself as “particularly drunk that night”.

The defendants wandered off, Ms Martin told the court, and Ben Rigby and Jake Nolton, who were in the block of flats that night, were woken by the heat alarms going off and proceeded to wake up the other five people in the premises.

It was only when Hart and Gyi eventually came back and saw how bad the smoke was that they alerted the security officer on the premises, the court heard.

Two fire engines were called to the block of flats and in later investigations fire officers found that the smoke in the kitchen had become so hot it had settled on the floor.

Gyi and Hart both eventually admitted they had caused the incident and pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage reckless as to whether life was endangered.

Their defence counsel, Peter McCartney, said both young men had committed a huge error in judgment by putting the plastic part of the television in the oven.

He said: “It was extremely reckless. It was not, however, malicious.

“It understates it rather to call it a stupid, foolish drunken prank but that, in truth, is what it was as there was no malice.”

He said Gyi and Hart had not meant to harm anyone in the flats and only covered up the heat detectors and sensors and left the flat because they panicked when they saw the amount of smoke pouring from the oven.

Mr McCartney also told the court they were both young men of previous good character and added: “Each of them is consumed with remorse.

“They are two young men of excellent character, excepting this drunken foolishness.”

But Judge Peter Kelson QC said he could not ignore the seriousness of the offence the pair had committed.

He told them: “Yours is a difficult case and you’re both plainly very decent young men when sober.

“Your family and friends’ testimonies are as impressive as they could be, speaking very well of your positive good character.

“You receive full credit for your guilty pleas from the very outset.”

He went on: “The way you carried on that night was appalling.

“You both have the benefit of good upbringings and loving families.

“You had everything going for you. You were on your way and studying for your degrees.

“You had done your exams and got hopelessly, pathetically drunk and then you set about appalling behaviour.”

Judge Kelson told the pair that when throwing the television off the block of flats did not offer enough “thrills and entertainment” they decided to put it in the oven and did not show any consideration for the safety of others in the black of flats when they disappeared after “toxic smoke started billowing from the oven”.

He also told them that he was sure they would never again commit any other criminal offence but he had a “wider duty” to the public and could only choose to impose a custodial sentence on them both.

“Doing the best I can to balance everything,” he told them, “and with a heavy heart knowing the sorrow and grief it will cause to your families, I sentence you both to an immediate custodial sentence of two years.

“You will serve half of that.”

As the pair were taken down their families, who were present in court, sobbed loudly and hugged each other.

PC Rachael Burgin, from South Yorkshire Police, said officers agreed with the judge’s decision in the “unique and complex case”.

She added: “The incident could have resulted in tragic consequences had it remained undetected.

“We have to pay credit to Jake and Ben for intervening.

“I agree fully with Judge Kelson’s decision.”