A man will go on trial next month accused of trying to kill 11 people by starting a blaze at a remote holiday home in the Highlands.
Kieran Ridley is alleged to have turned on a cooker’s gas taps and poured petrol in the kitchen of the house near Mallaig before setting it alight.
It is also alleged he then locked the doors and windows – before leaving the scene and taking the keys with him.
Ridley’s mother Ann, his brother Duncan and other relatives – including children – are among those he is alleged to have attempted to murder on October 27 last year.
The 31-year-old is due to go on trial at the High Court in Glasgow on September 28.
It is understood most of the 11 people in the property were not injured in the incident, with only one woman requiring treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters had to enlist the help of coastguards to take them to the scene in their 4×4 because the half-mile rutted track to the house was too narrow for fire engines or ambulances, and there was a 300ft drop into the sea on one side.
The incident is alleged to have happened at an isolated white-washed house at Mallaig Mhor, on the shore of Loch Nevis sea loch, overlooking the Knoydart peninsula
It is alleged Ridley willfully set fire to a refuse bin in the kitchen, poured petrol “or similar accelerant” on to kitchen surfaces, setting it alight, and opened the gas taps on the cooker.
The indictment he is facing also alleges he then locked the external doors and windows and left the scene, taking the keys with him “thereby preventing or hindering escape from the property, all in the knowledge a number of persons were asleep, all to the danger of their lives and you did attempt to murder them”.
When Ridley first appeared at Fort William Sheriff Court in private a few days after the alleged attempted murders bid, he made no plea.
His address at the time was given as Worcester.
