A fireman who started two major blazes in the Highlands has lost his battle to clear his name.
David Mackay,41, was convicted last year of starting two major wildfires in the Strontian area, near Fort William, in 2013.
The wildfires – which took place in March and April of that year – caused an estimated £1million of damages.
Mackay was convicted following a four day trial at Fort William Sheriff Court in August 2014 and he was sentenced to two years jail in September 2014.
But his legal team argued that MacKay was wrongly convicted and that the correct legal procedures weren’t followed by the court during his trial.
However at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh yesterday, judges Lord Carloway, Lady Paton and Lord Brodie ruled that Mackay’s conviction was lawful.
A jury at Fort William Sheriff Court found Mackay, 40, guilty of two charges of wilful fireraising. The four-day trial heard thousands of acres of forestry were destroyed in the blazes on the Carnoch Estate on March 27 and in the Glen Tarbert area on April 1.
As a retained firefighter with the Strontian unit, Mackay had more than 20 years service and helped to tackle the incidents he started.
The jury heard that a tracking device fitted to Mackay’s Scottish Water van placed him at the site of the two fires around the time they started. The first, on March 27, 2013, was two miles wide and took two days to extinguish. The blazes happened during a 10-day period of very dry conditions when more than 200 wildfires were reported in the Highlands and islands and fire teams were described as being “stretched to the limit.”
There were fears the village of Strontian might be engulfed by the blaze and preparations were made for evacuation.
Mackay’s former girlfriend Sheila Henderson, 31, said she saw Mackay’s van in Glen Tarbert shortly before the blaze, which destroyed 140 acres of woodland.
Defence advocate Niall McCluskey argued yesterday that legal procedures weren’t followed during the trial. However, the judges believed there was enough evidence to convict MacKay.