A man has been jailed for four years after carrying out fire attacks at a Sikh temple and a church. Paul Johnson, who wanted to make a “political statement”, used petrol to ignite the doors of Edinburgh’s Guru Nank Sikh temple and Leith Methodist church. He admitted to two charges of wilful fire-raising aggravated by religious prejudice, on August 28, when he appeared at the high court in Edinburgh last month.
Judge Lord Boyd described his actions as “reckless and wicked”. He said Johnson appeared to have a “grudge” against religion or religious authority in general, rather than a prejudice against one particular group. The court heard how on the evening of August 27, Johnson bought a container and fuel worth £3.51 from a local petrol station. The next morning, a little before 5 am, a man heading to the temple to pray, spotted fire on one side of the doors and immediately raised the alarm with a man sleeping inside in the family quarters. A few hours later, the caretaker at Leith Methodist church noticed the smell of petrol and burning but continued to clean up the area around the front door as there were no signs of fire damage. He later contacted police after hearing about the incident at the temple. CCTV footage from the area between 12.03 am and 12.13 am, showed Johnson approaching the church door with a flash of light then visible.
Authorities later arrested him in Leith on August 30. When asked about his involvement in the two fires, he quickly confessed saying, “I did it”. Advocate depute Alan Cameron told the court, “The accused stated that his intention in buying the petrol was to start the fire at the Methodist church and that the fire-raising at the Sikh temple was not planned and was only carried out when he came across the building. The accused was asked as to his motivation for the fires and stated that he was looking to make a political statement, but would not provide further details. When asked whether this was religiously motivated, he stated that he has no issue with any particular religion but his issues are with religion and God in general.”
Lord Boyd said at the sentencing hearing, “What is clear is that you seem to have some sort of grudge against religion or religious authority and decided to take it out on two nearby religious buildings. You told police officers that you were confident that no one was in the building and that fire officers would not be at risk because of their training. You were of course wrong about people being in the building and your actions did put people at risk.”
