Teenage firestarter sparked two blazes in town within days

A teenage firebug has been told to pay £120 a month towards more than £1,600 worth of damage he caused by sparking incidents which a sheriff said could have had disastrous consequences.

Barry Duggan was just 16 when he set fire to cardboard in a recycling bin outside a Montrose supermarket.

The 1am blaze at the town’s Scotmid on Newmanswalls Avenue spread to a nearby shipping container, which was well alight when fire crews responded to the 999 call on August 19 last year.

Police reviewed CCTV in a bid to catch the culprits, and although three people could be seen around the recycling bin, the footage was very poor quality, Forfar Sheriff Court was told.

But just four nights later a resident in the town’s Murray Lane was woken by the smell of smoke, again just after 1am, and discovered a recycling bin ablaze, with flames leaping so high that seals on her window were beginning to crack.

Firefighters tackled the blaze and when CCTV of the nearby street was reviewed, Duggan and another male could be clearly seen.

When arrested, Duggan, now 18, of Ecclesgreig Road, St Cyrus, said: “I’m not taking that by myself, what about the other boys?”

Defence solicitor Nick Markowski told the court: “He was 16, coming into town, hanging around with other youths and getting into bother.

“The others have been dealt with separately under the panel system.”

He added: “He was hanging about with the wrong crowd but now lives with his family and they have given him work to keep him busy.”

Sheriff Kevin Veal expressed shock over a social work report that said Duggan was spending £70 to £100 on a night out.

He placed him on a two-year community payback order, including 200 hours of unpaid work, and ordered compensation of £1,670 to be paid within 18 months. dangerously and at excessive speed on the road on May 15, without a licence and without insurance.

Defence solicitor Billy Rennie said: “He did have insurance, but it was invalidated when it was found that his licence had expired some two months previously and he hadn’t realised that.

“He lives here with his partner and sends money back home to his family.

“He works as a mechanic in Dundee and there is no record, either in Lithuania or over the years he has spent here.

“It is a bad, one-off error of judgment by him and the tenor of the social work report suggests he is very remorseful about this,” added Mr Rennie.

Sheriff Veal told Svanas: “This was driving well below the standard of competence which would be expected in a built-up area.”

Svanas was fined £500 and banned for a year. He must also sit an extended driving test at the conclusion of his disqualification.

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It is a bad, oneoff error of judgment by him. BILLY RENNIE, DEFENCE SOLICITOR