A MAN who smashed up two betting machines at a Bournemouth bookmakers has been jailed for a series of crimes.

Emiljan Gjelaj caused £1,360 worth of damage to the terminals at Betfred in Poole Road, Westbourne.

Dorset Police issued a public CCTV appeal for a man they would like to speak with following the incident in July last year.

The force said a man had been using the terminals before becoming upset after financial losses.

He then became aggressive and punched them, which caused the glass to smash, police said.

PC Russell Thomas, of Bournemouth Police, said the incident had left staff at the bookmakers feeling “very distressed”.

Gjelaj, of Becher Road, Poole, was charged in relation to the incident.

The 25-year-old appeared at Poole Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, January 21, having caught the attention of police the previous day.

He admitted a charge of criminal damage, as well as offences of driving without insurance, while disqualified and without a licence.

The driving matters related to an incident on Wednesday, January 20.

The defendant was at the wheel of a blue Audi in the St Michael’s Road and Poole Road area of Bournemouth despite not being permitted to hold a driving licence.

Gjelaj was sentenced for the four crimes, as well as breach of a suspended sentence order.

He had been subject to this order having being guilty of assaulting a man by beating him in Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth, and being in possession of class A drug cocaine on July 30, 2020 – just 11 days after he damaged the machines at the betting shop.

District judge Stephen Nicholls implemented the 10-week suspended sentence, which had been issued at the same court on November 5, 2020, in full.

He also handed the defendant further prison terms of four weeks concurrent for the criminal damage and eight weeks consecutive for driving while disqualified, delivering an overall length of sentence of 18 weeks imprisonment.

Gjelaj was ordered to pay a £128 victim surcharge and handed a further driving disqualification of 15 months.

His driving record was endorsed for the offences of driving without insurance and without a licence.

However, he received no separate penalty, such as court fine, for these crimes.