A man caused thousands of pounds worth of damage after torching 20 rubbish bins – because he wanted to watch firefighters tackle the blazes.
David Finch deliberately set fire to the bins over the course of just over a month between July and August last year – and he even hit one location on Balnagask Road three times.
The 23-year-old pled guilty to 20 charges of wilful fireraising previously and has now appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court to be sentenced over the matter.
‘Bizarre’
Referring to a court-ordered social work report, Sheriff Peter Grant-Hutchison said: “He wanted to be a fireman.”
Defence agent John McLeod described the case as “bizarre”, adding that Finch would stand “watching while the fire service did their job”.
Fiscal depute Victoria Kerr told the court: “The charges largely speak for themselves.
“The only additional detail I would add is each of them had a value of £284.14 and the bin lids in all but the last charge were destroyed.”
That would bring the total value of the damage caused to more than £5,000.
Bin blazes
Finch’s spree started on July 14 when he set fire to a communal bin at Rockall Place in Aberdeen, and continued with similar incidents on Balnakask Road on July 19, and Farquhar Road and Abbey Square on July 24.
He then targetted communal bins at Balnagask Road for a second time on July 25, and a bin at a different address on Farquhar Road on July 27.
On July 28 Finch set fire to a communal bin on Balnagask Avenue, and then returned to set fire to a bin at the same Balnagask Road address for a third time on July 30.
Finch also torched a Balnagask Crescent bin on August 6, and bins on Girdleness Road and Balnagask Avenue on August 9.
On August 11 he struck at bins on Balnagask Avenue, North Balnagask Road and Pentland Road, before torching another bin on North Balnagask Road on August 13.
He then set fire to a bin on Farquhar Road on August 15, before targeting another bin on the street the following day, as well as two separate bins on Balnagask Avenue.
And finally, on August 19, Finch set fire to a communal bin on Lochnagar Road.
Police had previously launched an appeal for information over the fires.
Mr McLeod asked for a supervision order to be imposed.
Sentence
Sheriff Grant-Hutchison told Finch, of Balnagask Avenue: “I’ve considered the nature of the charges and the social work report and still don’t understand why you did what you did, but I’m going to impose a community payback order as a direct alternative to imprisonment.
“What you did was a serious matter.”
He ordered Finch to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work and be supervised for a year.
