A 76-year-old man who endangered people by putting burning paper through letterboxes in a sheltered housing complex was jailed for 16 months yesterday.
Gordon McQuarrie, formerly of 24 Lynn Court in Oban, pleaded guilty to wilfully setting fire to paper and putting it through doors at 26 and 29 Lynn Court, to the danger of neighbouring occupants.
Oban Sheriff Court heard that Lynn Court, operated by Bield, provides housing for people aged over 60 years and had 43 residents when McQuarrie committed the offences on January 7 and 8. Fiscal Eoin McGinty said the flats were empty at the time, and the smoke triggered the alarms which brought Oban firefighters to the scene.
Mr McGinty said: “The fire service saw the alarm had registered at Flat 29. Fire officers found burned papers behind the door, which was still smoking. It had apparently been set on fire and pushed through the letterbox.
“The fire had failed to take hold and burned itself out, causing minor damage to the carpet and underlay behind the door. The fire service felt it was wilful fire-raising and requested police attendance.”
The fiscal said exactly the same situation occurred the following day at 10.04am, this time at number 26. Police conducted door to door inquiries and called at 24 Lynn Court.
Mr McGinty said that McQuarrie invited police in to his flat and immediately volunteered: “It was me, have I hurt anybody? Nobody was in the flats, the flats were empty. I need help, please.”
McQuarrie told police: “I am sorry for what I have done, I don’t know what’s happening to me.”
Mr McGinty said: “He said he didn’t think he would have lit the fires if there had been people in the properties. He confirmed that he knew the flats were both unoccupied but admitted knowing his actions were serious. He said, ‘I could have killed a lot of people’.”
Defence solicitor Duncan Durbin said: “The object of the exercise was to secure rehousing.
“It is totally bizarre, I don’t think there is any other way to describe his actions. He made no steps to contact the housing association to tell them how unhappy he was.”
A psychiatric report said McQuarrie was displaying early signs of dementia, but was sane. Mr Durbin said: “I wonder if we will ever get to the bottom of what truly motivated him.”
Sheriff Douglas Small said: “I consider that because of the gravity of this offence a custodial sentence is the only option.”
