A guest has admitted trashing a £50,000 chandelier by clambering over a balcony and swinging on it 60 feet above the hotel reception area. Offshore worker Ross MacPhail carried out the bizarre death-defying stunt as guests were gathering for breakfast at the Sleeperz Hotel in Dundee.
The roustabout swung on the elaborate chandelier for several minutes and was still swinging on it four floors up when police arrived to talk him down. He deliberately banged several of the glass pendants together to smash them and shards of glass fell into the public foyer as horrified guests watched on.
Dundee Sheriff Court was told that the hotel initially estimated that the chandelier was so badly damaged that it would cost £50,000 to replace completely. But fiscal depute Sarah High told the court that the company had been able to repair the original chandelier and the bill amounted to almost £8,000.
Sheriff Paul Brown deferred sentence on MacPhail for reports and warned him that he could be sent to prison because of the gravity of the incident. He told MacPhail - who is listed online as the owner of an MoT test centre - to save up the full amount to pay the cost of the damage caused.
"This is a serious matter," Sheriff Brown said. "You have crossed the threshold to custody here. If you turn up and pay the money next time it will have a significant impact on how I deal with it. If you don't turn up with the money to pay it, it will have the opposite impact."
MacPhail, of Jarvis Place, Carnoustie, admitted wilfully or recklessly destroying or damaging property by climbing and swinging on a chandelier and damaging pendants by striking them. The Crown accepted his not guilty pleas to two further charges - including striking an employee with falling broken glass and exposing staff and the public to the risk of injury.
He was also cleared of resisting, obstructing or hindering PCs Lewis Smith and Gary Cameron by struggling with them during the post-New Year fracas on 3 January.
Miss High told the court: "At 8.40am the reception manager arrived for work. They had been made aware of a man who had been in the stairwell breaking the chandelier. They went to the fourth floor and observed the accused. He had scaled over the glass balustrade of the balcony and was sitting on it.
"He was swinging on the chandelier and banging the glass particles of the chandelier together. The manager was concerned for the safety of the accused and contacted police. Police attended at 8.50am and engaged with the accused, who was still swinging on the chandelier and intentionally putting the glass pendants together, causing them to smash and fall to the floor.
"Eventually, the accused was taken back over the glass balustrade by the police. I believe it was a public area, approximately 60 feet above the ground. I believe the accused was under some sort of substance at the time. He was staying in the hotel and had obviously taken something."
The prosecutor told the court the hotel faced a bill of £50,000 to completely replace the chandelier, but confirmed it had been repaired for £7,925.
Solicitor Jim Laverty, defending, told the court: "His life has now turned around. He had certain mental health and drug issues at the start of the year. He has faced this voluntarily and is now employed offshore as a roustabout."
When he was told that he could potentially be sent to prison, MacPhail - formerly of Wormit, Fife - replied: "I know."
The £65 per night hotel has 120 bedrooms and is situated adjacent to Dundee Railway Station, near the Waterfront.
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