Man who smashed up bailiff’s van after car clamped in Seven Kings spared jail

Abubakar Muhudin, 33, shattered the van’s windows in Micham Road, Seven Kings, then grabbed a laptop from the passenger seat, hurled it to the floor and kicked it.

He then stole �5 from inside the vehicle before police arrived at the scene.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard Muhudin told officers: “I did this, I smashed his van up because he tried to fine me again.”

Bailiff Shameer Patel had noticed Muhudin, who now lives in Baddow Close, Woodford Green, owed �1,288 in unpaid motoring fines and clamped his Vauxhall Zafira on July 6, before knocking on his door to ask for the money.

When Muhudin refused to pay and claimed not to have any cash, Mr Patel said he would accept a lower sum of �775.63.

But the father-of-three slammed his front door shut and emerged minutes later with a metal baseball bat and chased the bailiff down the road.

When he was unable to catch Mr Patel, he set to work “systematically” damaging his van.

Muhudin pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon, common assault, theft and two counts of criminal damage.

Yesterday he was handed a six-month jail term, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to do 69 hours of unpaid work.

Passing sentence judge Timothy Lamb said his task was to make it clear bailiffs going about their business “enjoy the protection of the law”.

Muhudin, who works part-time as a hotel waiter, had already paid �2,704.82 in compensation to the debt collection firm, using money he borrowed from his two brothers, a medical student and a trainee doctor.

Edward McKiernan, defending, said there was another ”‘larger” bailiff supporting Mr Patel as the scene unfolded.