Cottage fire: man faces 11 murder bid charges

Court: He is accused of setting fire to floor and turning on gas

A man has been charged with the attempted murder of 11 people after a fire at a remote Highlands cottage.

Kieran Ridley is accused of locking the group, including a baby, inside after setting fire to the kitchen floor using petrol.

It is alleged that he opened the gas valve on the cooker, endangering the life of the occupants who were all asleep.

Fire and ambulance crews required the coastguard to help them reach the remote property at Mallaig Mhor, near Mallaig, after a fire broke out on October 27. The coastguard drove firefighters to the scene in a 4x4 vehicle along a half-mile hill track, which has a 300ft drop into Loch Nevis.

The 11 people escaped unhurt, although one woman was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.

Ridley, of 57 Ombersley Road, Worcester, has appeared at Fort William Sheriff Court accused of trying to kill the group.

The 31- year- old is charged with willfully setting fire to the kitchen floor using petrol, opening the gas valves of the cooker, locking the outside doors and several windows, leaving the property and taking the keys with him.

It is alleged the incident happened when the occupants of the house were sleeping.

Ridley made no plea or declaration during the brief private hearing before Sheriff David Young, and was remanded in custody.

Last night a Mallaig woman said that after the fire, she had seen police searching for clues in the remote countryside.

She said: “The house is all on its own, away down Loch Nevis and out of sight apart from the sea when you take a boat down to Knoydart.

“It is reached by a very narrow and dangerous potholed track, which is little wider than a path.

“You cannot afford to go off the track, even a little, because there is an almost sheer drop of several hundred feet into the sea-loch, Loch Nevis.

“The morning after the fire the police were scouring the ditches and undergrowth looking for somebody or something.”

The fire was contained to the inside of the house and the only evidence of it yesterday was the smokeblackened kitchen window.

Further down the loch, multimillionaire showbiz impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh also became a fire victim when his holiday house at Tarbet was mysteriously burned down in his absence several years ago.

He replaced it with a £1million dwelling.

“You can’t afford to go off the track as there’s a sheer drop”

REMOTE: The cottage near Mallaig overlooks Loch Nevis and is reached by a pot-holed track with a 300ft drop to the loch