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.

Garage boss burned down centre he ran

By Paul Thornton

A GARAGE manager burned down the tyre repair centre he ran because he was worried bosses were about to sack him.

Colin McReadie, 22, had only been in charge of the Budget garage for two weeks when his managers called him in for talks about his future.

Instead he snuck into the Edinburgh business the night before the meeting and set the workshop ablaze, causing over £700k worth of damage.

Dozens of firefighters fought the inferno at Budget Exhausts and Tyres in Piershill as highly flammable gas cylinders threatened to ignite and the garage was closed for weeks.

And at Edinburgh Sheriff Court McReadie admitted wilful fire-raising on September 29 last year.