36-year-old claimed he kicked front door to ‘save child from paedophiles’

A 36-year-old who kicked and damaged a front door claimed he was trying to save a young family member from “paedophiles”.Those actions led to Daniel Castleton, of Florence Road in Lynn, to appear at the town’s magistrates’ court on Thursday.He admitted causing criminal damage under the value of £5,000, as well as having cocaine and cannabis in his possession.

The court heard that on March 5, Castleton went to an address in Downham after hearing that the teenage family member was in the property.He kicked the door multiple times, causing around £770 worth of damage.Castleton was not arrested for the offence until April 14, when officers found that he had both the Class A and Class B drugs in his possession. In a police interview, Castleton admitted kicking the door down – and said his reason was to “save the child from paedophiles”.Castleton had a total of 88 previous offences to his name, many of which are for possession of drugs or for threatening behaviour. His solicitor, Ruth Johnson, explained to the court that Castleton had received a photo from someone of the child “cuddled up” with an older boy.“He went round to the property. He accepted kicking the door – he wanted to get the child out of the property,” Ms Johnson said.By committing the offence, Castleton breached a community order previously placed on him. Magistrates opted to leave the order running, and also handed him a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for six months.He was ordered to pay £770 in compensation to the Downham resident whose door he kicked.