Firestarter is jailed for blaze

Residents had to be evacuated

A man who started a fire which led to 16 residents being evacuated from their homes has been jailed for two years.

Damage estimated at £100,000 was caused after rubbish was deliberately set alight in Motherwell town centre.

Lawrence Robinson was caught on CCTV near to the properties and told police officers he couldn’t explain the “urges” that he gets to start fires.

Hamilton Sheriff Court heard police officers on patrol spotted smoke in Menteith Court in the early hours and woke residents in six flats.

One man was treated by paramedics at the scene for smoke inhalation.

Robinson (32), a prisoner, admitted wilfully starting the blaze in Motherwell on December 21 last year.

Imran Bashir, prosecuting, said the accused was seen on CCTV buying items at the town’s Asda at 1.39am.

A few minutes later another camera captured him going into Menteith Court then “igniting items” in bins and walking away.

At 2.36am police officers noticed smoke coming from the block and saw “numerous” bins were on fire and that access to the flats was “completely restricted”.

Mr Bashir told the court: “Smoke was billowing, but the officers climbed a rear wall and managed to evacuate 16 residents from the six flats. Firefighters attended and the flames were extinguished.

“The housing association which owns the flats estimates damage at £100,000.

“That includes damage to external brickwork, windows, drainage pipes, cladding and possibly structural damage. There was smoke damage to a close ceiling.

“Had the police officers not spotted the smoke there would, undeniably, have been danger to the residents.”

Robinson was arrested after returning to Asda in the early hours of the following morning and being recognised by a security officer.

He told police officers he had been “a bit bored” but claimed he wouldn’t have started the fire had he known there were people in flats nearby.

He said: “I don’t know what to tell you. I just get these urges. I’ve had them all my life.

“I thought these were office buildings and, being at night, there would be nobody there.

“If I had known they were flats I wouldn’t have done it.

“I didn’t want to harm anyone.”

Defence agent Margaret Chalmers said Robinson was walking past the scene when he saw cardboard sticking out of a bin.

She stated: “There was no accelerant involved. It was just a lighter.

“He didn’t even wait to see if the fire had developed. He just walked away.

“He doesn’t get any form of enjoyment out of this. He can’t explain it.”

Mrs Chalmers said her client has a long history of substance abuse and lives a “nomadic” existence.

Sheriff Douglas Brown backdated the two-year sentence to December 23 as Robinson had been in custody since his arrest.