A violent arsonist who started a fire at the home of a man he targeted in an offensive spray paint campaign was warned that a prison sentence is “inevitable”.
Jason MacDonald poured petrol through the letterbox of a flat occupied by Jason Ellis in Dunfermline, before igniting a blaze that endangered the lives of occupants of the block, the High Court in Edinburgh heard.
Advocate depute Craig Murray KC said: “Neighbours heard a fire alarm go off and responded immediately.
”They called the fire brigade and then helped put the fire out by throwing water onto the letter box.”
The prosecutor said: “The common stair became filled with smoke and the building was evacuated.”
Flat’s occupant was targeted
Police later recovered a jerry can from flats in Dunfermline where MacDonald lived and a jacket found in his home smelled strongly of petrol.
The court heard that MacDonald, 38, had assaulted Mr Ellis a year earlier and robbed him of his mobile phone.
The victim called police to report the matter and they found MacDonald with the phone.
MacDonald subsequently launched a spray paint campaign accusing Mr Ellis, who has since died, of being “a grass” in slogans
daubed on gates, walls and windows in the Fife town.
On one occasion he was photographed spray painting the words “Ellis = Grass” at garages at Leys Park Road.
MacDonald admitted wilfully setting fire to the front door and letterbox of Mr Ellis’ flat at Chalmers Street, Dunfermline, on June 7 in 2023 resulting in the door and a blind behind it igniting, endangering the life of Mr Ellis and other occupants at the building.
Assault and robbery
He also pleaded guilty to assaulting and robbing Mr Ellis on June 15 2022 at a flat in Broomhead Drive, Dunfermline.
During the attack he punched him on the head, dragged him into a bedroom and repeatedly stamped on his head.
He also admitted that on various occasions between March 30 and April 6 in 2023 at properties in Dunfermline he maliciously spray painted offensive remarks and caused damage.
The court heard that during the attack on Mr Ellis his mobile phone fell out of his pocket and MacDonald picked it and refused to hand it back.
When police found MacDonald at his then home in Broomhead Drive with the phone he told them: “That’s not my phone, that’s Jason’s.”
The cost of the damage caused by his subsequent spray paint campaign ran into hundreds of pounds.
Mr Murray said that MacDonald has “numerous” convictions for offences of violence and fire raising.
His first conviction was in July 2000 in Northern Ireland for arson when he was aged 13 and two years later he was convicted of making a petrol bomb.
Defence solicitor Gary Miller said: “He has been more or less constantly offending since he was a young child.”
He said MacDonald witnessed domestic violence and grew up in the care system before becoming homeless as a teenager. He was on medication after being diagnosed with anxiety and depression.
The judge, Lord Arthurson, told MacDonald he had pleaded guilty to serious offences and an inevitable custodial sentence was coming his way.
He said his criminal record was “a shocking one”, but said he would call for a background report before sentencing.
MacDonald is due to be sentenced on August 4 at the High Court in Glasgow.
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