Arsonist jailed for 2½ years

Press, 7 December 1985, Page 4

Arsonist jailed for 2½ years

A confirmed arsonist, who still claimed that he was innocent, was jailed for 2% years by Mr Justice Heron in the High Court yesterday on a charge of wilfully setting fire to property with reckless disregard for the safety of others. Colin William Nicholl, a sickness beneficiary, who conducted his own defence, said to his Honour, *Tm innocent of the charge and there will be an appeal against conviction.” Evidence was given at his trial that he set fire to rubbish in a jumbo bin in the alley alongside the

United Service Hotel on August 10. His Honour said that the fire had been lit in a bin alongside a hotel on a Saturday evening and the consequences could have been disastrous. Over the last 25 years Nicholl had convictions for a series of offences involving arson, attempted arson, and giving false alarms of fire. The jury took little time to reject his story. The disconcerting thing was that Nicholl was a man of intelligence who had conducted his own defence with a degree of skill, his Honour said. It was the medical report that he suffered from a paranoid disorder for which there was no treatment. He suffered from a compulsive urge to light fires.