Darren Lidster: Drugged-up criminal ram-raided Rotherham business before threatening man with broken bottle

A career criminal has been sent back to prison, after he 'ram raided' a Rotherham business with a stolen car, before threatening a 'terrified' resident with a broken bottle in the early hours of the morning. 

Sheffield Crown Court heard how Darren Lidster’s latest crime spree began in the early hours of December 22, 2023, when he used a white Audi vehicle - stolen by others - to ram raid CA-Parts Ltd on Muglet Lane in Maltby, Rotherham, causing thousands of pounds of damage. 

Summarising the facts of the case, the judge, Recorder Andrew Smith MBE, told Lidster: "You caused what I’m satisfied was a large amount of damage that needed repairing…someone damaged the CCTV system so it couldn’t thereafter film the attempt to take a scissor jack; but that failed and you ended up taking tools to the value of £50. 

"At 5 o’clock in the morning, very shortly after this ram raid, the complainant was setting off early to go to work. He was checking his tyres. Two men came up to him, asking to borrow a spanner. Whether or not that was subterfuge isn’t clear."

"You ended up opening his car door, no doubt looking for something to steal…you then pulled out a broken bottle," Recorder Smith said, adding that Lidster’s unnamed companion had the 'sense to see where things were going' and try and persuade Lidster to stop what he was doing - but to no avail. 

Prosecutor, Joseph Bell, said Lidster, aged 37, then began to 'wave the broken bottle around in the direction' of the complainant. 

A hearing held on March 25, 2024 was told that the complainant subsequently made an excuse to return to his house, locked the door and contacted the police. 

Police arrived on the scene a short time later, located the stolen Audi and found Lidster hiding in an alleyway a short distance away. 

In a statement read to the court, the owner of CA Parts Ltd described his frustration at being forced to close so close to Christmas - which is usually a busy time for his business - while he went to get quotes 'running into thousands of pounds' to repair the damage caused. 

Recorder Smith said of the impact upon the owner of CA Parts: "Like many other high street businesses, the owner found it very difficult to earn a living…he’s worked for 17 years to try and build it up. Businesses need to have confidence that the courts will deal with this properly."

Get a bespoke headline round-up, as well as breaking updates, when you sign up to The Star’s free emails

The man threatened with the broken bottle told the court, through his statement, that the incident left him feeling 'really afraid' and caused him to fear that he 'was going to be hurt'. 

"He describes being shaken up," Mr Bell said.

Recorder Smith added: "This was very serious. The man must have been utterly terrified by the fact you produced a broken bottle at him in the street at 5 o’clock in the morning."

Lidster has a criminal record of 92 previous offences, from 34 previous court appearances, with 23 previous entries for theft related offences. 

The court heard how Lidster had even been brought before a magistrates’ court a matter of hours before carrying out the ram raid. 

He pleaded guilty to charges of a non-dwelling burglary, handling stolen goods and threatening behaviour in relation to this latest set of offences at an earlier hearing. 

Defending, Andrew Bailey said that prior to committing the crimes, Lidster had taken 'cocaine, crack cocaine and other drugs at the same time as doing stupid, and indeed criminal, things'. 

Mr Bailey said Lidster and his unnamed companion subsequently made a 'stupid decision' to do 'something for a laugh,' leading to the ram raid. 

Mr Bailey suggested that if the raid had been planned, Lidster is likely to have chosen a business premises housing items of a higher value.   

He asked Recorder Smith to consider suspending any custodial sentence, in order to help him 'finally kick his drug habit’.

Jailing Lidster for 19 months, Recorder Smith told him: "The ball’s very much in your court, Mr Lidster, you can’t go on like this. There’s got to come a time when you draw a line under this."