A MAN who smashed up a car with a hammer over a parking dispute told police the ‘red mist descended’ over him.

Calum Niall Clark was said to have caused more than £3,000 of damage after he became ‘argumentative’ with the owner of a Range Rover in an incident in the centre of Dalton.

The defendant was said to have become irate with Paul Hunt, who he said was blocking in his elderly neighbour.

South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court heard that Clark, 30, went into his house to get a hammer before returning to smash up the Range Rover.

Prosecutor Pam Ward told the court it happened around 2.20pm near Bargain Booze on Dalton’s Market Street on October 23.

She said: “He told the man ‘I will show you’. Then he hit the back window with a hammer until it smashed.

“In his interview, he told police the red mist had descended’.

Defence solicitor Michael Graham said: “He realises his behaviour was inappropriate and disproportionate.

“At the time he was going through some personal difficulties and that together with life’s travails cause him to act in this situation.

The defendant, of Garden Terrace in Dalton, was sentenced to a seven-week curfew for the offence.

He will have to stay at his house between 7pm and 7am in that time.

Clark was also ordered to pay £450 in compensation to the victim. He told the court he would apply to alter the curfew because of his role as stage crew for Ulverston Pantomime Society.