by Keith Hunt

Startling details about a siege in which a former squaddie held a couple captive with a machete, have have been revealed in court.

Dwain Beckett terrified John Mandryk and Phyllis Bailey when he entered their flat with the blade and ordered them to barricade the door.

Over the course of the next two-hours, the 28-year-old stayed in the flat and told armed police that he was going to cut the couple’s heads off.

Appearing at Maidstone Crown Court last week, Beckett was locked up indefinately.

The court heard how during the tense stand-off, Beckett threatened to kill Mr Mandryk and Miss Bailey – telling them he wanted to go back to prison to get help.

Beckett will have to serve just under three years before the parole board considers whether it is safe to release him.

He had previously been thrown out of the Army after going absent without leave and serving 44 months in jail. He set fire to his barracks, causing substantial damage.

Maidstone Crown Court heard drunk Beckett went on the rampage after losing his job and being evicted from his mother’s home.

The trouble started on the afternoon of April 24 when a resident was collecting his daughter from a play area in Noreen Avenue, Minster, and saw Beckett staring at him.

Martin Yale, prosecuting, said the resident asked if they knew each other and Beckett replied: “No, but you will know this.”

He then pulled a large machete from his waistband and waved it around.
At 4.15pm Beckett went into the nearby home of Mr Mandryk and Miss Bailey.

Mr Mandryk heard Miss Bailey call him. He went into the kitchen and saw Beckett armed with the machete.

Mr Mandryk tried to calm Beckett down as his moods switched between being upset and happy.

Mr Yale said Beckett ordered Mr Mandryk to barricade the front door.

“He said he wanted help and wanted to get back inside to get it,” said the prosecutor. “He then began banging his head with the flat part of the blade of the machete.”

When police arrived on the scene, Beckett warned: “If you don’t get back I will cut their f------ heads off.”

At one point he told Miss Bailey to inform officers he was hungry and wanted Kentucky Fried Chicken. He also said he was disappointed police did not have “proper guns”.

Beckett eventually emerged at 6.15pm and was arrested. He told officers he wanted to be locked up so that he could make a fresh start.

Officers went to the Noreen Avenue home of Beckett’s mother Kim Boswell and discovered he had caused around £5,000 of damage to furniture and photos. He had scrawled abuse on walls in tattoo ink.

Tom Dunn, defending, said Beckett did not intend anyone to be harmed during the incident. The loss of his job and home had set him on a downward spiral.

“The accumulative effect of these two factors and a deep-seated emotional fragility and toxic level of alcohol led to what we see happen,” he said.

“For what it’s worth, those acts are very much regretted. On any view, he has deep-seated psychological issues. He tried embarking on an Army career and that went badly wrong.”

Beckett admitted false imprisonment, criminal damage, arson and affray.