Public schoolboy drink-driver who 'ripped cottage in two' gets off with £400 fine

My Account
Logout

Create an Evening Standard Account

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Welcome! Sign in here

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Forgot your password ?

Registration

* indicates fields that are mandatory

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

First name *

Surname *

Postcode *

Country *

Mobile phone number

Username *

Gender *

Year of birth *

When you sign up...

You will have access to all our online competitions, discounted offers and can post comments on our site.

You will also receive The Weekender newsletter sent every Thursday - it’s full of fantastic offers and ideas for the weekend. You can update your email preferences in your account page when you log in.

Other newsletters and emails

Homes & Property Newsletter - Yes I want to receive the weekly email with all the latest news on property in the capital

Occasionally we would also like to send you relevant emails detailing specific offers either from ourselves or carefully selected partners. If you would prefer not to receive these then please tick the appropriate boxes below. We will never pass on your details.

I do not want to receive additional offers and information from the Evening Standard

I do not want to receive additional offers and information sent by Evening Standard on behalf of carefully selected partners

Terms and Conditions

* I have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of Evening Standard

Registration

Mail Sent for Registration Confirmation.

A confirmation email has been sent. Please activate your account by clicking on the activation link sent in your mail box.

Edward Boyd, 19, tore through the living room of the £250,000 home like a ‘missile’ as the owner slept a few feet away.

The teenager, who was nearly twice the drink-drive limit, caused £100,000 worth of damage.

Trevor Gardiner was left with a gaping hole in his cottage after a drunk public schoolboy smashed through his home

His father Jonathan, a City bond trader, had given him the Volkswagen Polo as a present for passing his driving test.

Boyd fled the scene and called friends to pick him up and take him to his parents’ £2 million mansion nearby in Stourmouth, Kent.

Police stopped the car after spotting him covered in blood in the passenger seat, but he gave the officers a false name.

He eventually owned up after speaking to his mother, and this week at Canterbury Magistrates’ Court he admitted drink-driving, failing to stop and obstructing a police officer.

Mr Gardiner inside his damaged house in Littlebourne, Canterbury

Magistrate Barry Linden gave Boyd a £400 fine and 200 hours’ community service after hearing that he had gone on the drinking session only after finding out one of his friends had died.

But the cottage owner, who is living in a caravan while he waits for it to be rebuilt, later branded the sentence a ‘disgrace’.

Landscape gardener Trevor Gardiner said he is still traumatised after being woken by the sound of the car smashing into his home at 2.30am on June 14.

From the wrecked property in Littlebourne, Kent, he said: ‘I’ve worked hard all my life and now I’m having to start again. I can’t believe he’s escaped so lightly.’