A CRIMINAL who threatened to burn down the home of witnesses to his mindless wrecking spree was today behind bars.

George Champley was worried that he would be returned to prison for six months for breaching the conditions of his release on licence if he was arrested for criminal damage.

As it turned out, he was locked up for 21 months for intimidation, and was told by a judge: “If you choose to behave in that kind of threatening and gangsterish way, there is only one outcome.”

Champley, 24, smashed up a couple’s car because he had fallen out with their son, prosecutor Emma Atkinson told Teesside Crown Court today (Tuesday, February 21).

The £3,500 Ford Mondeo was written off in the attack outside their home last April, such was the extent of the damage, Miss Atkinson said.

Champley asked if they were going to report the incident to the police, and warned: “If I get recalled, I’ll burn the house down and smash the rest of the car up, right now.”

Children inside the house were scared by the threats and were moved to a relative’s home nearby - before Champley caused more damage.

The court heard that he was on licence from a 12-month sentence for a stabbing, and had served a prison term for drugs.

Champley, of Sycamore Avenue, Thornaby, near Stockton, admitted criminal damage and was convicted after a trial of witness intimidation.

His lawyer Alex Bousfield said there was little he could put forward in mitigation because the unemployed window cleaner still denied making the threats.

Judge Stephen Ashurst told Champley: “You made some extremely serious threats to her and her family.

“What you threatened to do was to burn down her house and return to deliver further retribution.

“That kind of threat is something the court has to take an extremely dim view of. The impact of that kind of threat on someone’s home, particularly on a family where there are children, is really quite enormous.

“Those were threats from a man who had served prison sentence for drugs offences and violence.

“You did not have the guts to admit what you had done. This offence is way too serious to be considered by way of a sentence in the community.

“People like you who go around threatening serious violence and damage to householders have to go to prison.”