Jilted workman jailed for torching flats

By Michael MacLeod

A SACKED builder who downed eight pints before torching a block of flats has been jailed for 18 months.

David Muchemwa, 31, was sacked by Cala Homes just days before he soaked a bundle of clothes with petrol and used them to set fire to their Fettes Rise development in Edinburgh.

He claimed he had first checked each flat to make sure they were empty.

But he missed two pensioners who were left trapped in their third-storey home.

The terrified couple tried to escape but were blocked inside their burning home by thick black smoke.

Hero fire-fighters managed to rescue the 72 year-old man and his 68 year-old wife from the blaze on December 19 last year – after firebug Muchemwa had called for their help on 999.

Firebug torches flats over job bust-up

By Paul Thornton

A JILTED worker torched a block of flats at a housing development after bosses cancelled his contract – trapping two pensioners in their third-storey home.

Cala Homes bosses had cancelled the casual contract David Muchemwa had with them just days before he set fire to the building at their Fettes Rise development in Edinburgh.

Muchemwa, 31, claims he checked each flat in the building to make sure it was empty before using petrol soaked clothes and the fuel itself to set two fires in the building.

But a 72-year-old man and his 68-year-old wife were left trapped in their home after smelling the reeking fumes caused by the blazes.

They had tried to escape but found their way blocked by the thick smoke and had to wait in their home until firefighters rescued them.