Kellar Knight had ‘a couple of drinks’ then went on a room-trashing rampage
A half-naked West Country Tesco worker who gave a London Shard hotel room a “total and complete trashing” cost the owners just shy of £150,000. Kellar Knight, 23, treated his new girlfriend to a £1,300-a-night stay at the Shangri La Hotel on the 39th floor of the skyscraper in June 2024, but things went horribly wrong after “a couple of drinks”.
When Knight, from Shepton Mallet in Somerset, was spotted shirtless in a corridor on CCTV, hotel security dished out a warning. But Knight ignored the advice and continued on his rampage, damaging a painting on the wall and interfering with a telephone.
When security guards swooped inside his posh room, they were astonished to find it had been completely destroyed, with extensive damage to all the fittings and fixtures, the bathroom, a flat screen TV, and large glass panel costing £28,000 alone.
Police were called and Knight was taken to hospital for a mental health check, appearing drunk and possibly on drugs. Though he made no comment under questioning, he fessed up at Croydon Magistrates on August 27, pleading guilty to criminal damage.
The damage to the room was initially calculated at £50,000, but the hotel owners also included the cost of the room being unavailable while it was fixed, bringing it up to £148,101.29p.
Representing himself at Inner London Crown Court on Wednesday (November 26), Knight argued the cost calculation was excessive because the broken hotel room would not necessarily have been occupied for the whole period.
Knight also claimed he had no memory of the evening, and said he was later told by his then-girlfriend that he was calling her by his mum’s name. “I feel like I had some mental switch,” he explained.
Knight, now jobless, also said his life had gone “downhill” since the incident, with his dreams of becoming a geography teacher crushed. Though he has received help from drug and alcohol services, he refused to give consent to court ordered drug and alcohol programmes.
‘Quite a big gesture’
Asked what he was doing in London in such an expensive hotel room, Knight cried and said: “Me and my girlfriend were new together, so I wanted to treat her. We went out for a couple of drinks and stayed for the night in London.”
Judge Ian Darling suggested that was “quite a big gesture” for a young man working in a supermarket. Knight agreed: “Yes, it was.”
Sentencing Knight to six months, Judge Darling said he was “just persuaded” to suspend his sentence for 18 months, instead punishing the West Country lad with 200 hours of community service and 25 days of rehabilitation activity requirement.
“The room check revealed what can only be described as a total and complete trashing of the room,” said Judge Darling, adding: “The damage you did to that room was comprehensive, inexplicable, and, one might think, committed in a series of moments of madness.”
Judge Darling told Knight substance abuse issues would follow him his whole life if he did not seek help, and warned him he would end up in prison if he breaks the law again.
“Be under no illusion,” Judge Darling said, “You have come about as close as it comes to going out the back of the court rather than the front door.”
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