Man who set house fire may face compulsory treatment order

A psychiatric patient who set fire to his house has been found not guilty of fire raising by reason of insanity.

A jury of five women and 10 men concluded that Andrew McNaughton was mentally disordered at the time of the incident.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis has called for psychiatric reports to ascertain whether to impose a compulsory treatment order on the 65-year-old, currently an in patient at the Rohallion ward of Murray Royal Hospital, Perth.

Perth Sheriff Court had previously heard McNaughton had set fire to his kitchen curtains because he feared a terrorist attack was imminent and wanted to alert the authorities.

The court was told McNaughton had dialled 999 and told the operator: “I’m burning the house down”, before hanging up. Police tried to call him back but he hung up on them. He refused to leave the burning property on Perth Road, Scone, and officers were forced to evacuate nearby homes.

McNaughton was pulled through a window by firefighters and he immediately admitted starting the blaze.

He later told psychiatrists that he could think of no other way to alert authorities to the danger as he feared his phone was tapped.

The damage to the house, which is owned by Perth and Kinross Council, cost more than £15,000 to repair.

Solicitor David Holmes, defending, did not dispute that McNaughton set the property on fire but disputed whether he could be held criminally liable.

McNaughton was accused of wilfully setting fire to the property whereby the fire took hold and damaged the kitchen and hallway on July 5 last year.