A MAN went on the rampage in a mechanical digger yesterday, destroying a house and three cars, one of them a police vehicle.

Neighbours watched as the driver, in his fifties, rammed the digger into the four-bedroom house while a woman was apparently still inside.

A policewoman called to the home at Eastland Meadows holiday park in Bradwell on Sea, Essex, was unable to stop the destruction. The digger smashed into her police car. A Chrysler Crossfire and Chrysler 300C belonging to the owners were also wrecked.

The driver, who was eventually pulled from his digger when armed officers arrived, collapsed before being arrested and taken to hospital. He was identified as Robert Taylor, a driver of heavy plant machinery.

Janice Gledhill, who lives at the property with her partner, James Harvard, said that she had been in bed when the digger arrived soon after 7am. She claimed that she and Mr Harvard, who own the holiday home park, were owed £1,000 in rent by the driver, who she said had bought a caravan from them last year.

Ms Gledhill, 52, said: “I saw who it was, I didn’t go to the door and I immediately rang the police. He told the police he’d come for his money but we don’t really know what he means because he owes us money. He destroyed the police car and then our own cars and then started on the house. The police told me to get out. James was already on the camp site. They couldn’t do anything to stop him. I couldn’t reason with him. We are just devastated.

There’s got to be about £500,000 worth of damage.”

The couple said that their dog and six cats had been trapped inside, with some of the cats still missing, feared dead. “It’s unbelievable. I can’t believe anybody would do anything like this,” Mr Harvard said. “Janice is lucky to be alive. He started wrecking the place with her inside it.” Vincent Frostick, who lives opposite, said: “I saw the digger driving up the road. A policewoman turned up and tried to stop him but he just smashed through the car. She was just yards away when the bucket came down.

“He was very, very calm. He wasn’t shouting or anything. He demolished the guy’s two cars in the drive by lowering the bucket on to them. For about ten minutes he just smashed into the house.

“After he destroyed the cars, he raised it to its full height and brought it down straight through the roof. I’ve never seen anything like it. After about 45 minutes about 12 armed police officers turned up. They pulled the guy out of the cab and he collapsed.”

Last night the house, built in 2000, lay in ruins. Broken beams hung from the tiled roof while a 20ft pile of rubble and bricks covered the ground. The orange digger remained near by in the park grounds.

A police spokesman said that a man had been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and criminal damage.

Times Recommends

• Swine flu vaccine for all as drug rushed through
• Artificial sperm and the race to build a baby
• BBC jets out stars to tout for prizes