A feud over a rival allegedly urinating on his father and brother’s graves ended in chaos when Nathan Blagg, 28, stole a tractor and hay baler, drove nine miles and rammed a Middlesbrough terrace
A man who drove a tractor and hay baler into a house targeted the property after a rival desecrated the graves of his father and brother, a court heard.
Nathan Blagg, 28, was jailed for seven years and two months, with two years on extended licence, after stealing a Massey Ferguson and driving it into a terraced house in Middlesbrough in May.
Teesside Crown Court heard the house, which was empty at the time, was linked to his rival Luke Lancaster, with whom he was engaged in “an ongoing feud”.
The tractor was stolen from farmer Ian Tate near Kirklevington, North Yorkshire, driven at speed around nine miles, then deliberately crashed into the three-bedroomed house in Priory Road.
Recorder Paul Reid said “the house essentially had to be rebuilt”, while the court heard the tractor needed £56,000 of repairs and the hay baler, which had cost the farmer £30,000, was written off. The judge said the tractor almost went into a party wall with a neighbouring house.
Blagg admitted aggravated vehicle taking and criminal damage while reckless as to whether life was endangered. He also admitted affray in relation to a previous clash in Middlesbrough town centre with Lancaster, who has been jailed for his role in the violence that day.
Jamie Wilson, prosecuting, said Lancaster drove his car into Blagg outside the Probation Service offices, throwing him over the bonnet. Blagg later told police any violence that occurred in the street on April 21 was in self-defence.
Stolen Jaguar into lamppost
Rod Hunt, defending, said he had seen “distressing footage” shared on social media by Lancaster in which he urinated on the graves of Blagg’s brother and father, and kicked over a gravestone. Mr Hunt argued Blagg and others saw criminal damage to a rival as less serious than a physical attack.
He said: “By the strange logic of the underworld, the targeting of property is less serious than, in fact, running over Mr Lancaster or treating him in the way he had been treated. We both know the law of the land is not the same as the law of the jungle.”
In a separate event, five days after the tractor ramming, Blagg also admitted aggravated vehicle taking after he stole a Jaguar and drove it at speed into a lamppost, causing the car to spin 180 degrees and throwing the streetlight 20m down the road.
Both driver and passenger were seriously injured, the court heard, but despite this Blagg tried to drive the wrecked vehicle away, even while paramedics attended.
Blagg was already disqualified from driving when he drove the tractor and when he smashed the Jaguar, the court heard. The family living in the rammed property had already moved out of their home of 24 years due to previous attacks.
In a victim impact statement, the woman who lived there said: “I don’t tell anyone where I live (now) for fear I and my family will be violently attacked.” She said she was not sure if she would be able to get a mortgage or insure a house again.
A man who lived there added: “We are a hard-working family and we don’t deserve to be put through this.” Mr Tate, in his victim statement, said the theft of his tractor had cost him thousands of pounds.
“Enormous amount of damage”
“Farming is hard enough without all this I have been put through,” he said. The judge acknowledged that Blagg had been provoked.
Recorder Reid said: “You were in the spring of this year grossly aggrieved, and rightly so, by the disgusting behaviour of those who desecrated your relatives’ graves and then compounded that disgusting behaviour by posting material on social media showing this.” The judge referred to the criminal damage charge, relating to the tractor ramming, saying: “This is about as serious as it gets, in my judgment.”
The offence was aggravated by the “enormous amount of damage”, the planning and the vehicle used. The judge also banned Blagg from driving for seven years.
Outside court, Detective Chief Inspector Dan Cook said: “To steal a tractor from a farm, to then be driven at high speed towards Middlesbrough and rammed with extreme force into a house shows the lengths Blagg will go to instil fear and violence, all without a thought or care for residents and the wider public. While it is lucky no-one was inside that house at the time, Blagg was not aware of this or if those inside neighbouring properties were home when the tractor was rammed.
“The danger and significant risk it posed to neighbouring properties meant occupants had to evacuate for their safety due to the structural damage caused.”
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.