Middlesbrough man Owen Ellis jailed after four hour rooftop siege

A man who was high on drugs when he staged a four hour rooftop siege hurling slates at police and cars has been jailed.

Cleveland Police sent their helicopter and a negotiator and cordoned off the area when Owen Ellis, 21, from Middlesbrough, smashed his way into the town centre house at lunchtime and climbed up to his perch to avoid capture.

Prosecutor Paul Lee said that Ellis demanded a cigarette to end the siege but officers refused to give him one until he returned to earth.

He ripped up slates and pieces from chimney stacks and he damaged seven houses at the scene on Costa Street and also a car whose driver had popped into a barber’s for a haircut.

At one stage he removed something from his pocket and he put it into his mouth. Asked what it was he said that it was the drug MDMA.

He also hurled racial abuse at one worried resident, Teesside Crown Court was told on Friday.

Mr Lee said that the August 29 siege ended at 5.30pm when Ellis eventually climbed down. Police recovered from him a wrap of Amphetamines, and he was arrested and taken to hospital. Later he made no reply to questions.

The list of damage included chimney pots, guttering and lead flashing but police could not produce a total bill despite doing a leaflet drop to houses in the street.

Ellis, who had convictions for 77 offences, was in breach of a suspended prison sentence for aggravated vehicle taking.

Scott Taylor, defending, said despite Ellis’s young age he was already in danger of being institutionalised.

He had been in custody since his arrest and he had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

Judge Deborah Sherwin told Ellis: “It comes to a very sad thing when your own counsel describes you as institutionalised, and your list of previous convictions makes depressive reading.

“Looking at your background and all the circumstances of what happened on this day these matters are so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified.”

Ellis, of Ross Street, Middlesbrough, was jailed for 12 months after he pleaded guilty to eight charges of criminal damage, affray and possession of Amphetamines.