A man has been acquitted of deliberately starting a blaze in a block of flats which left residents clambering down ladders from their windows to safety.
Emergency crews were called to the scene in St Clair Street in the city in the early hours of February 17 last year and rescued a number of residents.
Five people were taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation after the blaze, which started in the basement.
Lee Munro, 19, had been on trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court accused of starting the blaze deliberately by setting fire to a mattress in the basement.
Yesterday a jury returned a verdict of not proven over the allegation and he was formally acquitted.
However, the jury found him guilty by majority of wilfully setting fire to a car at Links View, Aberdeen, on February 16 last year. Munro set fire to the vehicle in the car park in the early hours of the morning.
The blaze engulfed the car, causing “extensive damage” and even damaging the windows of a second car parked next to it.
A window on a nearby ground floor flat also cracked due to the intense heat from the flames.
During the trial the court was shown dramatic video footage of the vehicle blaze, with several explosions and loud bangs as the fire raged before emergency crews arrived.
It took firefighters around 20 minutes to extinguish the blaze.
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Defence agent Lynn Bentley, who represented Munro during the trial, had earlier told the jury during her closing speech that no DNA evidence had been found linking her client to a lighter discovered in the stairwell at the St Clair Street block of flats.
Sheriff Philip Mann told Munro: “The jury have found you guilty of what can only be described as a serious charge.
“I will be considering all sentencing options – which will include a custodial sentence – so you should be prepared for that.
“Before I can do that, I must obtain a social work report.”
Munro, of Long Walk Road, Aberdeen, also previously pled guilty to five other charges of breaching bail conditions.
He will be sentenced for all matters in April.
The trial had also been shown pictures of the charred remains of a bed and mattress in the basement of the building, as well as smoke damage in the basement, a ground floor flat and stairwell.
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