Man guilty of poo-filled balloons missile attacks

A man caused £2,000 worth of damage at a social club after throwing balloons filled with human excrement at the premises. Charles McGeary took the action at the Royal British Legion in South Shields, South Tyneside, early on the morning of January 9 after he had been barred from the club following an earlier incident. The excrement-filled balloons, which were tied up with fishing cord, penetrated the club’s shutters, contaminating stock, causing damage to the ceiling and carpets inside and ruining curtains.



In a separate incident, McGeary threw faeces in balloons into the backyard of a neighbour’s home in South Shields, over a period between November 1 last year and January 11 this year. On Christmas Eve a balloon filled with excrement landed against a wall, wreaking havoc to patio stones and a clematis plant at the home of Bob and Dorothy Thompson who live a few doors down from McGeary.

McGeary, 49, admitted three charges of criminal damage and harassment without violence when he appeared at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court. He was sentenced to a 12-month probation order and was electronically tagged and placed on a curfew order to remain at his home address between 9pm and 7am daily for 13 weeks. McGeary also has to pay the social club £1,000 in compensation. Additionally, he was made subject to a probation order not to enter the Royal British Legion Club and not to approach his neighbours.



British Legion club secretary Bob Wilson said: “All of this has cost us two grand. We had to bring in industrial cleaners. I don’t even want to think about how he got this excrement into the balloons. We all know about anti-social behaviour, but this is anti-social behaviour at its very height. It makes you wonder what is happening to society. People really need to know what this man, who was not a member of our club, has done. It’s beyond disgusting.”