Matthew Nichols -Norwich/Hoveton

Article from 05/01/24:

A man who broke into the home of his ex-wife has admitted destroying the ashes of her dead son.

Matthew Nichols, 39, claimed he was attempting to take some of his former stepson’s remains to have made into a memorial necklace.

Instead he dropped them over her living room floor and then “made things worse” when he attempted to clean them up.

Norwich Magistrates’ Court was told he had been drunk when he smashed glass in the back door to enter the home of his former wife of 15 years in Foxley Close, Norwich, on May 21 last year.

Prosecutor Rima Begum said after being alerted about the break-in by a neighbour she had “found that the ashes of her deceased son had been thrown over the living room floor”.

After being arrested Nichols, of Blofeld Loke in Hoveton, told police the damage had occurred after he had returned to her home from the pub following an earlier dispute over access to their children.

“He said that he had wanted to take some of the ashes to make into a necklace, however due to his level of intoxication he dropped the bag and then in trying to clean up the ashes he made things worse,” said Ms Begum.

Nichols had previously pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage.

Representing himself in court, he told magistrates: “I went down the pub, had a few drinks and it played on my mind that I hadn’t been able to see my children when I’d arranged to pick them up and that they had said I didn’t care about my stepson when I did. I had brought him up since he was six-years-old.”

He added: “Before this happened I was under a lot of stress and worry for my children.”

Magistrates ordered that he complete 120 hours of unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation days as part of a 12 month community order.

Deciding against awarding compensation, they said: “Physically there is very little monetary value but emotionally it is huge, but how can we financially quantify that?”

They also refused a prosecution application for a restraining order banning him from contact with his ex-wife or attending her property as being “neither necessary nor proportional”.