Angry Daniel Hammond, 21, was told to leave the Blacksmiths Arms, in Hartlepool, after the landlady caught him pouring his own pints.
After being thrown out of the pub,

he picked up the piece of wood and attacked the window after kicking the front door and shouting threats at the landlord.

Hammond denied smashing the window, but was found guilty after a trial at Hartlepool Magistrates' Court.

Landlady Susan Metcalfe said she became suspicious of Hammond, who went to the pub in Stockton Street with two friends, because he always had a full drink but she never saw him go to the bar.

She told him to leave after seeing him taking lager from a closed bar.

Mrs Metcalfe said she then heard shouting and screaming coming from outside, which woke her husband Paul who was asleep upstairs.

She said: "All I saw was Daniel with a piece of wood. I said 'please don't be stupid' and he put the window through with the wood.

"He kept on threatening my husband then started punching the rest of the glass.

"Then we phoned the police."

Another witness, Jamie Robinson, helped Mr Metcalfe bolt and hold the door to prevent Hammond or anyone else getting back in.

The court heard Hammond, of Danby Grove, Seaton Carew, had drunk between eight to 10 pints of lager that night.

He admitted theft of the lager but claimed he was talking to Mr and
Mrs Metcalfe at the door when the window was smashed and said there were other people outside the pub at the time.

Hammond was fined £200 for the criminal damage caused on Saturday, January 9, and ordered to pay £80 compensation to the pub.

He will also have to pay £400 towards the trial costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

Chairman of the bench John Jenkins said: "We recognise it is for the prosecution to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.

"We feel they have done that because of the consistency of the witnesses so we find the case proved."

Hammond was also fined £100 for breaching his bail by missing a court date on April 26.