Builder charged after new houses wrecked with a digger

A builder has appeared in court accused of using a digger to damage a row of newly-built retirement homes.

Daniel Neagu, 30, was charged with criminal damage after five new-build homes in Buntingford, Hertfordshire - worth a reported £800,000 each - were wrecked by a digger.

Photos released by police show several seriously damaged homes with their walls ripped apart, surrounded by piles of debris with a turquoise digger standing in front of the wrecked properties.

The East Hertfordshire Rural Safer Neighbourhood Team published several pictures after officers were called to an incident on Ermine Street at about 5.40pm on Saturday where a man was arrested at the scene.

Neagu, a Romanian national living in Harrow, north west London, did not enter a plea when he appeared at Hatfield Magistrates' Court via videolink from his police cell.

A spokeswoman for house builder McCarthy and Stone said he was employed by sub-contractor Fenton and that owners were due to move into the unoccupied bungalows within weeks.

"We are now awaiting a structural engineer's report, so we can plan the work required to repair or rebuild these properties," she added.

"We are absolutely devastated for the purchasers affected and our priority is to continue to stay in close contact with them and their families, and to ensure that any disruption is kept to a minimum."

Neagu, who spoke in court only to give his particulars and state his desire not to enter a plea yet, was charged with one count of criminal damage to the value of £4m on five houses belonging to McCarthy and Stone.

He was remanded in custody to enter a plea at St Albans Crown Court on 10 September.