Two gamblers on trial for smashing up fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT) in a Ladbrokes betting shop are claiming that their actions were the result of a FOBT-induced trance.

A few weeks before Christmas 2016, two Cheltenham residents, Aaron Cawley and John Dymock, were charged with causing £20k worth of damage at a Ladbrokes betting shop. The 26-year-old Cawley and the 30-year-old Dymock reportedly lost a packet playing one of the shop’s FOBTs, prompting them to go on a vandalism tantrum.

Dymock originally pled guilty to his role in the rampage, but has since asked to withdraw his plea. In August, the pair informed the court that they planned to plead not guilty due to having suffered from ‘automatism,’ aka a form of temporary insanity they claim was induced by the FOBTs heady cocktail of flashing lights and beeping sounds.

At their August court hearing, the pair’s attorney Alison Gurden told the judge, Recorder Paul Grumbar, that the vandals were suffering from “automatism due to a gambling addiction.” A skeptical Grumbar expressed surprise that the condition had “afflicted them both at the same time.”