A habitual criminal who routinely targets Ninewells hospital forced an evacuation after starting a fire in the toilets there.
Sam Burns Hall, 49, has been locked up after causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to the hospital during the Covid-19 crisis.
Six fire appliances had to be sent and firefighters had to evacuate people from inside.
Two appliances remained on the scene for almost three hours and four sets of breathing apparatus, three thermal imaging cameras and two positive pressure ventilation fans were used by SFRS.
A jury found him guilty of the June 26 2020 wilful fireraising.
Giving evidence about why shop staff who later challenged him said he stank of smoke, Hall said: “I don’t bathe everyday.
“I sometimes go four days without a shower.”
Hall did not have an appointment and was not visiting a patient when he arrived at the hospital – he had decided to eat at a cafe there.
When a witness walked into the bathroom on level seven, he spotted Hall hunched over in a stall and presumed he was helping a child.
The witness’s partner emerged from the adjacent ladies room and spotted Hall leaving, muttering something was going on in the bathroom.
Shortly afterwards, hospital WH Smith employee Andrew Reid challenged Hall, suspecting him of shoplifting.
He said Hall smelled strongly of smoke, which Hall put down to smoking 10 to 20 roll-up cigarettes a day and sometimes going four days without bathing.
‘Despicable crime’
His solicitor Paul Parker-Smith told jurors: “You may think it’s truly a despicable crime.
“I agree with you.
“It was committed by somebody – the issue here is not whether the crime was committed, it’s who committed it.”
However, Hall was found guilty of wilful fireraising in the Ninewells toilet by majority verdict.
He was found unanimously guilty of stealing two magazines from WH Smith on June 26 2020.
An allegation of breaking into a lockfast safe at Ninewells on the same date was deemed not proven.
Repeatedly targeted Ninewells
Following the verdict, the court heard Hall, of Leith Walk, Dundee, had three previous convictions for breaking into Ninewells and stealing in 2002, 2003 and 2019.
Sheriff Paul Brown remanded Hall and deferred sentence until November 3.
He added: “In charge two in particular (fireraising) you have been convicted of a gravely serious offence.
“Given the nature of this offence and the schedule of previous convictions, I do not consider you a suitable candidate for bail.”
