An enraged builder destroyed £40,000 worth of walls in a fit of rage after finding he was the only worker to turn up to work.
Owen Powell, 42, of Barry, Wales, was said to be suffering from alcoholism and experiencing a mental breakdown when he destroyed precast concrete walls which had been put up by his colleagues.
The majority of the walls were damaged beyond repair, reports Wales Online. He was eventually caught after his acts of vandalism were captured on CCTV.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard Powell had worked at building firm O'Reilly's Precast for six months prior to the incident, and was friends with owner Barry O'Reilly.
But upon arriving to work at a building site in Barry on July 9 last year, he found he was the only worker on site - leading him to "become annoyed" and lose his temper before calling site manager Mitchell Carter.
Powell was described as sounding intoxicated and agitated on the phone, with his manager unable to calm him down.
He then got behind the wheel of a JCB forklift truck and drove it into 16 walls, causing £22,418 worth of damage.
Four of the walls were able to be repaired at a cost of £3,000, but the remainder had to be scrapped at the cost of £15,000.
The total worth of the damage came to £40,418.
After the extent of the destruction was discovered, Mr O'Reilly was contacted by Mr Carter to say the walls had been damaged, and the police were called.
After he arrested, Powell told police he "felt pressured" when he found himself alone at the site.
He also said he was also struggling with his mental health and was an alcoholic, but was not able to explain why he had damaged the walls.
Powell later told a member of the probation service he "had no recollection" of the incident.
He later pleaded guilty to criminal damage, and the court heard he had a number of previous convictions including criminal damage, public order offences, and violent crimes.
Prosecutor Nigel Fryer said there was an "element of revenge" about the offence and stated that the defendant had "intended to cause a serious amount of damage".
In mitigation, Adam Sharp said his client had spent time in prison but "rushed back to work" upon his release when he was "not in a fit state of mind".
He said "matters came to a head" on the day when Powell found himself at work on his own and was unable to receive support or assistance.
Powell was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment suspended for 18 months. He was ordered to carry out a 10-day rehabilitation activity requirement and 180 hours unpaid work and to pay costs of £530.
Sentencing, Judge Jeremy Jenkins said: "Your employer had shown you nothing accept support and encouragement in regards to your difficulty and this is the way you repay him...
"Anyone who behaves in the manner you did with your antecedence commits an offence that is too serious to be dealt with by anything other than a custodial sentence."
However, the judge said he was persuaded to suspend the sentence.
