Man sentenced for damaging Crawley hotel

Lewis Holley, 43, unemployed, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage at the IBIS Hotel in London Road, police said.

A community campaign was launched to raise money for him and a friend to stay at the hotel over Christmas after residents were touched by the couple’s plight in sleeping rough.

More than £600 was raised to pay for their stay from Christmas Eve until January 2.

But when they left, hotel staff found the room had been wrecked, causing around £1,000 worth of damage.

A police spokesman said Holley at before Crawley Magistrates’ Court on Monday (January 18) where he was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £20, to pay costs of £85 and fined £120.

The hotel said it would not be seeking payment for the damage.

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