A roofer lost his temper after seeing a historic garden had disappeared from a historic building.
On November 25 at around 10.30pm, a tenant of Beeleigh Abbey noticed a person wandering around the 13th century building.
The property had been converted into accommodation in 2000, with four years of intensive restoration work.
Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard on Thursday, the resident was alarmed by what looked like a torchlight and called the police.
Natalie Roberts, prosecuting, said: “She heard a banging sound and thought someone was trying to break the chain at the gate. That’s when she called the police.”
Officers who attended the scene found an empty drink can near one of the gate’s intercoms, which was covered in blood.
Following the trail of blood, the officers were led to a second intercom, which had been broken, surrounded by broken glass on the floor.
Mrs Roberts told the court, the resident and a member of the site staff found a mattress and food wrappers nearby, suspecting the person who had been wandering around the property the night before was sleeping there.
Lucy Osborn, mitigating, said Matthew Langridge, a 52-year-old former roofer had been at the historic site with his family when he was a child, and reacted impulsively about the way the property had changed.
Langridge had been living in a tent since returning from France, where he had been working as a roofer, but struggled with finding employment since Brexit led to his return to the UK permanently.
Mrs Osborn said: “He was living in a tent and did not know the land belonged to the victim, if he had known, he would have moved.
“He had walked from Chelmsford, a 10-mile walk, he had consumed alcohol and saw the walled garden was no longer there.
“He accepts his thought process wasn’t as straight as it should have been. He did not intend to cause distress.
“He is sorry for his behaviour and is ashamed he finds himself before the court.”
The bench ordered Langridge, of no fixed abode, to pay £750 in compensation after he admitted one charge of criminal damage.
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