A TENANT wrote in blood on his home’s wall, vandalised an internal door and sent his landlord abusive text messages, York Magistrates’ Court heard.

Akif Altun, 29, claimed his problems began when his tip-off led to immigration officers making a series of arrests at restaurants in York owned by his landlord.

His solicitor Kevin Blount said he is currently suing the landlord for the return of the £650 deposit he put down when he rented a house in Burlington Avenue, Tang Hall. Altun, who now lives in Dennison Street off Huntington Road, York, pleaded guilty to sending nuisance text messages and criminal damage.

District Judge Adrian Lower told him: “There is a right way of going about sorting out disputes of this sort and a wrong way.”

He fined him £400, plus a £20 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs. He left compensation for the damage to be decided by a civil court.

Sam Law, prosecuting, said landlord and tenant were involved in a civil case in early February, when a gas fitter doing the Burlington Avenue house’s annual boiler service said it had to be turned off until it could be repaired the following day.

That evening, the landlord received a series of abusive texts from Altun including a racist one. The landlord was upset and frightened and tried to use a relative to resolve the matter without the police.

Altun left the property, but not before he had broken an interior door and written a message in his own blood on the house’s wall.

Mr Blount said Altun had moved into the property in May 2013 and the landlord had made his life difficult in an attempt to get him out.

He had been so desperate, he had self-harmed himself and used his blood to write a message to his girlfriend on the wall. He very much regretted sending the text messages.

The door had not been fastened securely and the damage had occurred when he opened it, the court was told.