Man who bulldozed own pub escapes charges

By Emily Sutherland

- Last updated on GMT

The businessman can't be charged because he owns the pub
The businessman can't be charged because he owns the pub

Related tags Business and financial operations occupations Crime

A business man who demolished his own pub by driving a digger into it has been let of the hook - because he was destroying his own property.

Police say they are powerless to charge Mark Swistun, who was arrested for causing criminal damage to Penclawdd’s the  Royal Oak, because he owns the pub.

A police spokesperson said: “At the end of the day the building belongs to him so he can do what likes with it.  We would need someone to make an official complaint about the damage he caused and no-one came forward.”

Swistun had spent £60,000 with another local businessman refurbishing the pub and creating a series of bar extensions around a sports and local heritage scheme. A regular told a local paper that that the pair had worked ‘seriously, seriously’ hard at transforming the pub and that it had brought the local community together.

According to the BBC​, the pub reopened the next day, although the damage has only just been fixed. 

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