A 22-YEAR-old Fife man has gone on trial accused of starting a church blaze that caused more than £500,000 worth of damage.

Ricky Smith, c/o The Wash project, Alexander Road, Glenrothes, denies that on May 23 last year he broke into St Mary Mother of God Church, High Street, Leslie, and stole food and money.

He also denies that he wilfully or recklessly set fire to materials in the church causing both the building and contents to be damaged or destroyed.

Finally, he denies that he maliciously wrote graffiti on an internal wall, knocked down a statue and overturned items of furniture or ornament.

The trial is being heard before Sheriff Keane and a jury of eight men and seven women. Smith’s defence are lodging a special defence of alibi, claiming that he was with a group of people at an address in Leslie at the time.

First witness was church caretaker James McGovern, who said the congregation was “devastated” at the damage that had occurred at the church.

He had locked up the premises just before 11 am that Friday following a Mass.

Votive candles had been left burning but these were contained in small aluminium holders that were themselves placed on a metal holder.

He first realised something was amiss when he heard noises in his home—at the rear of the church—just after midnight and noticed a crowd gathering nearby.

“I went out and saw the vestry, at the back of the church, was well alight. The fire brigade had been called so I telephoned the parish priest and he came along.”

Mr McGovern, who said he was not allowed back into the church until later that day, described the damage.

“The vestry was just about totally destroyed, there was smoke damage everywhere and I saw bits of a statue of an angel lying on the floor.”

Fiscal Margaret Graham led the witness through a series of police photographs of the damage. They depicted charred woodwork, debris and burned plasterwork, a lectern and a cross lying on the ground.

She also drew the witness’s attention to graffiti reading, in part “I’m a black rainbow, I’m a teenage distortion, I survived abortion...”

The caretaker confirmed that these words had not been present when he locked up.

Evelyn Ostrowska, of the church management committee, said that as well as the £500,000 cost of repairs, a further £38,000 worth of property within the premises had been damaged by the fire.

The man in charge of the fire-fighting operation, Station Officer Richard Gallagher, said he took two engines to the fire after an emergency call at 11.45 pm, arriving six minutes later.

Two breathing apparatus teams entered the building as other firefighters tackled the blaze from the outside, quickly gaining the upper hand and ultimately dousing the flames.

He conducted the fire investigation and thought the fire had been deliberately started at the vestry. He said the rear fire door was ajar when the brigade arrived and there was clear evidence of vandalism with broken windows and property strewn around the place, including fire extinguishers that had been pulled from their brackets.

He agreed with a defence suggestion that his findings were a “best guess” under the circumstances but said he had found no other reasons for the blaze.

Leading Firefighter Donald Smythe said that when he entered the church visibility was virtually nil. His squad felt their way through black smoke for the heart of the fire.

He said he encountered objects underfoot that later turned out to be statues, microphone stands and other church equipment. These were on the floor when he arrived and not knocked over by his team.

He examined one of the fire extinguishers and found it had been emptied.

Asked by the defence if it was possible that a candle left burning in the main body of the church could have fallen and led to the intense fire in the vestry, he said he thought this “almost impossible.”

The trial continues.