A career criminal was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in a young offenders' institution for gutting the flat he rented from a private landlord.
John William Flounders and his partner Stacey Everett rented a flat in Stockton in September 2013. But just two weeks after they moved in they stripped all the copper pipes from under the floorboards and disappeared.
The Daily Mail tells the full story of the devastation caused by the couple's actions.
As well as stealing the copper pipes which destroyed the heating and water system, Flounders and Everett pulled the sink from the bathroom wall and wrenched the kitchen work top from the cabinets.
Teeside Crown Court heard how after gutting the flat the couple then went on to burgle a house.
Repeat offender Flounders, 19, was jailed while Everett, 20, was given a 13-month custodial sentence suspended for a year and ordered to undertake 240 hours' unpaid work.
The court heard Flounders had 32 previous convictions on his record, including burglaries dating back to when he was 14 years old.
The couple have since split up.
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