A LANDMARK Moray building was destroyed by a fierce blaze at the weekend.
Police and the fire brigade are carrying out a joint investigation into the third blaze this month at the former granary building site in Oldmills Road, Elgin.
The half-timber building was a popular cafe during the 1980s.
Since 2002, both it and the picturesque watermill next door have been owned by Patrick Thirkell.
The 58-year-old, from Hopeman, said yesterday that he estimated the latest fire had cost him “tens of thousands of pounds”. The retired RAF navigator said the building was not insured because the risk of flooding in the area made the premiums “exorbitant”.
He said a small recording studio on the second floor of the building had been destroyed, as had a machine for purifying smoke fumes that he was aiming to patent.
The fire was the third since the beginning of 2014. On January 9, a caravan parked at the site was destroyed in a blaze.
And on Wednesday, the fire brigade was called after two passers-by spotted smoke coming from inside the loft of the building.
In 2012, a blue double-decker bus that Mr Thirkell used to grow mushrooms in was also set alight.
He said he thought he was being victimised for reasons he did not understand.
Mr Thirkell said: “It’s such a shame, especially when things were going so well. From now on, I’m just going to have to get someone to stay at the site all the time.
“I have wood and a mobile sawmill, so it will be possible for me to rebuild the place.
“It does make you wonder if it’s worthwhile if someone is just going to destroy it again.”
Three fire engines and a water carrier went to the scene after the alarm was raised at 10.40pm on Saturday. One unit remained at the site for most of yesterday, while two hoses fixed to the ground continued to direct water on to the building’s smouldering remains.
A spokesman for the fire service said: “An investigation is currently being carried out at the scene in co-ordination with the police.”
Mr Thirkell has been in dispute for many years with several neighbours, who set up a formal group objecting to how he maintains the site.
Last year, a Scottish Government reporter ordered him to clean up the land. Some residents claim the area remains an eyesore. Jo Stewart, who lives opposite it, said yesterday: “Something has to be done now to make the site safer. It’s a huge worry, constantly wondering when the next fire might occur.
“Things can’t be allowed to go on like this. The firemen and police who came down here on Saturday night were fabulous.
“But they can’t be expected to keep doing that. It’s a compete waste of taxpayers’ money.”