A MAN who damaged more than a dozen cars as he threw masonry at police from north Belfast rooftops has been jailed for 11 months.
Colm McClenaghan (29) hurled shards of glass, tiles and chimney pieces ripped from houses on Oldpark Road during a stand-off lasting hours.
Prosecutors said distressed onlookers gasped and screamed as he jumped between the three storey-high properties.
He eventually plunged to the ground after shouting he would die before being arrested.
McClenaghan, with an address at Donegall Road in Belfast, pleaded guilty to 24 offences in connection with the incident on September 20 last year.
They included criminal damage, assaults on police, disorderly behaviour and possessing an offensive weapon.
Belfast Magistrates' Court heard officers went to the scene amid reports about an aggressive man.
McClenaghan climbed out a back window onto the roof of a building, shouting he was going to kill himself.
As PSNI representatives negotiated with him, he threw a shoe and spat at them.
A Crown lawyer said the defendant then armed himself with tiles, smashed a window and targeted police with shards of glass.
McClenaghan then scaled onto a higher roof, ripping gutters and chimneys to throw at cars and officers below.
"He continued shouting, swearing and directing threats while running along back and forward across the roofs," the prosecutor said.
At one point McClenaghan armed himself with two large nails, one in each clenched first, to make "punching daggers" gestures.
Ignoring the negotiators, he jumped from the roof and fell into a hedge separating houses.
District Judge George Conner was told one of the targeted policemen suffered cuts to his arm.
Defence counsel John O'Connor stressed no other officers sustained physical injuries during what he described as a "suicidal episode".
"He went up on this roof in a pair of socks, it wasn't as though he had any grip," he said.
"He remained up there for a number of hours, everybody was concerned he would slip, fall and die due to his mental state."
Mr Conner said: "This is a very serious matter, a custodial sentence is the only option the court has."