Man who bulldozed own pub escapes charges
Police say they are powerless to charge Mark Swistun, who was arrested for causing criminal damage to Penclawdd’s the Royal Oak, because he owns the pub.
A police spokesperson said: “At the end of the day the building belongs to him so he can do what likes with it. We would need someone to make an official complaint about the damage he caused and no-one came forward.”
Swistun had spent £60,000 with another local businessman refurbishing the pub and creating a series of bar extensions around a sports and local heritage scheme. A regular told a local paper that that the pair had worked ‘seriously, seriously’ hard at transforming the pub and that it had brought the local community together.
According to the BBC, the pub reopened the next day, although the damage has only just been fixed.
