‘Vigilante’ family handed suspended sentences at Luton Crown Court today

THREE members of a family turned into a vigilante group after a man in their street exposed himself on his front doorstep.

Mum Shelina Sopa, 41, her son Nadeem Kadir, and her younger brother, Ahmed Jakaria, forced their way into the man’s Luton home forcing him to escape via an upstairs bedroom window.

Inside the house the man’s wide screen TV was damaged and so too was his Sky Box.

In his kitchen Sopa, who had armed herself with a knife, scattered coffee all over the floor and his microwave was also damaged.

Today the three, who all live in Ivy Road, Luton, pleaded guilty to burglary with intent to cause criminal damage on August 6 2013.

Judge Stuart Bridge, hearing the case, was told how that day Mrs Sopa pulled up in her car in the street outside the man’s home, intending to walk to her parents’ home nearby.

As she got out of her car, she noticed the man was naked on his doorstep.

The mother walked on to her home but then returned moments later armed with a knife.

CCTV installed at the man’s home captured her banging on his front door using the handle of the knife.

Jakaria, who was 18 at the time, also turned up outside the house and tried to take the knife from his older sister and when Kadir, who was also 18, arrived at the front door, he was seen to deliver two hefty kicks to try and force it open.

When the door eventually gave way, all three went into the property forcing the man to escape from a rear upstairs window.

He dropped down onto a flat roof and made his way into a neighbour’s garden.

Passing sentence, Judge Bridge told Sopa “When you got out of your car, it’s clear the complainant was standing naked at his door, exposing himself to you and masturbating.”

The judge said according to Sopa’s statement to police officers later, it wasn’t the first time the man had done this.

However, said the judge, she had never reported any previous incident to the police.

Judge Bridge said the man had in fact been upstairs watching the incident unfold on a cctv system he had installed at his home.

He was left terrified by what was happening, said the judge, and forced to flee out of an upstairs window.

Judge Bridge said that later the man himself had been arrested over his behaviour.

Inside the home, the judge said damage worth £715 had been caused to his property.

He said said “I must sentence you on the basis you didn’t intend to harm him but you did intend to frighten him.”

The judge told all three that if in the future they had any cause for concern over the behaviour of the man, they must not take the law into their own hands.

He told them “What you must do is call the police and not enter into any vigilante behaviour of this sort.”

Sopa was given an 18 month jail term, which was suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work as part of a supervision order.

The two younger defendants were each sentenced to 12 months in a young offenders institute which, in their cases, was suspended for two years.

Both were ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work.

The judge said he was also making compensation orders. Sopa was told she must pay the man £250 and her son and her younger brother were told they must each pay the complainant £225 each.

Finally the three were told there would be a restraining order for the next two years which prevents them from entering the man’s property.

The court was told that since the incident, there has been no repeat of the behaviour by the man.