COMPUTER expert Dr. Nigel Geary has blamed ‘cannabis culture’ for an all-night illegal rave that wrecked his Henley home.
Dr. Geary returned from a week in America to discover his St. Mark’s Road home in ruins after teenagers broke in and held a drink and drug binge on Valentine’s Day.
Around 30 revellers partied from 7 p.m. on Saturday until the following morning. They helped themselves to all the food and drink in the house, sprayed walls with printers ink, ruined carpets, damaged furniture and electric appliances, broke down internal doors, raided drawers and stole cheques and credit cards. The cost in terms of damage and stolen property amounts to well over £10,000.
Neighbours reported seeing youths who ‘looked about 15’ drinking and talking loudly in the street. Some were even picked up by their parents from outside the house.
Dr. Geary said: “This is not the first time this has happened – a mansion on Harpsden Way was trashed in the same way just before Christmas. These kids find a house that’s empty, word gets around, and they all turn up. It happens at the end of term and in school holidays.
“They act like animals. They use a lot of cannabis and they don’t seem to know what they’re doing – it’s a cannabis crazed riot.
“There is a culture now. These kids come from good families and they go to good schools but they want to hang around and fool about with cannabis. It seems to me that almost every teenager in Henley is using cannabis, and the police don’t seem to be doing anything about the dealers. The Government down grading it is just nonsense.”
Dr. Geary is still uncovering the extent of the damage. He said: “They have trashed the place. They drank all the alcohol, including about £200 of whiskey, which I’d collected. The carpets have been ruined throughout, they took printers ink and sprayed it everywhere, they smashed open the door to my bedroom and forced open drawers.
“They took my daughter’s violin, threw computer components in the trash – they even ripped apart the Hoover.
“All the carpets will need to be replaced, the walls repainted and I’ll have to have the locks changed. I feel gutted – the house doesn’t feel like mine any more.
“Initially, I thought it had just been kids having a party, but there were burglaries as well. Credit cards and cheques that I had locked away were stolen. They took an expensive watch, several house and mobile phones, and about 20 DVDs.
“We’ve got a couple of names already and the police took finger prints and removed the evidence of drug use. They’re taking this very seriously.
“We want adults who came to pick up their children to come forward. Parents should know what their children are up to. This is the second house in three months that has been virtually destroyed ? they have to be stopped before this happens to someone else.”
A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: “We were called on February 16th when the owners returned and we found £7,500 worth of criminal damage and items of undisclosed value stolen. We are now investigating.”
