Tyres Centre Manager Jailed for Arson
By Katherine Clarkson
The manager of a tyres centre has been jailed for starting a huge fire at the garage where he worked.
Colin McReadie was sentenced to 28 months for starting the blaze at the tyres depot because he feared he was going to be sacked.
The court heart that 22-year-old McReadie drank 20 pints of lager before letting himself into the Budget Tyre Auto Centre in Edinburgh and setting fire to a rack of tyres using a gas torch.
He then locked the building and went back to the pub, leaving the fire to cause £700,000 of damage.
A passing dog walker called the fire brigade after hearing the fire alarm and seeing smoke coming from the roof of the building in Piershill Place.
Father-of-two McReadie, pled guilty to wilful fireraising at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month.
Sentencing him today, Sheriff Neil Mackinnon said the danger posed to the public meant McReadie had to be jailed.
McReadie, a soldier with the Territorial Army, had been working at the centre for three months and had been promoted to branch manager just two weeks before the incident last September.
Sheriff Mackinnon said he had reduced the sentence from 42 months because McReadie pled guilty at the first opportunity.
Number: Z8037079
Reg: NKF419
