Man threw Buckfast bottle filled with petrol at car and home in Lurgan in 'revenge' arson attack, Craigavon Crown Court told

Ordering 25-year-old Dylan Jason Murray to spend 25 months in jail and a further 25 months under supervised licence conditions, Judge Patrick Lynch KC said given that Murray had hurled “what used to be called a Molotov cocktail” at the car and house meant that “the fact that this is a grave case hardly needs to be emphasised.”

With claims that two young children were asleep inside the house, the judge said the “danger was apparent and that should have been apparent to the accused”.

On the morning he was due to go on trial last December, Murray, whose address was given as c/o HMP Maghaberry, entered a guilty plea to a charge of arson intending to damage property and being reckless whether the life of his ex would be endangered.

At Craigavon Crown Court on Friday, prosecuting counsel Nicola Auret said while the defendant’s former partner had not provided a statement, a witness who lived on the opposite side of Bells Row Court in Lurgan had told police she heard noises in the early hours of June 20, 2022 and when she looked out, she saw Murray outside the property.

He was swinging kicks at a VW Tiguan car parked in the driveway and he had a bottle of Buckfast in his hand, but instead off swigging from the bottle, it was filled with petrol.

Ms Auret outlined how the witness saw him “take a step back” before lighting the bottle and throwing it at the car, setting both it and the front door of the property on fire.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service attended and were able to extinguish the fire before further damage was caused and the court heard that Murray surrendered himself to police later that day.

The PPS counsel submitted there were multiple aggravating features to the case, including the domestic violence aspect of the offence, that it was committed at night, Murray had put the lives of people in the adjoining properties in danger and also his 59 previous criminal convictions which included entries for arson and criminal damage.

D efence counsel Aaron Thompson told the court that Murray had admitted he was “hellbent on damaging the car in some sort of pathetic but malicious protest at the new partner…and he is disgusted at his own behaviour”.

Describing it as “a revenge attack”, Judge Lynch said it was clear from his previous convictions that Murray “took out his angst against individuals by carrying out damage of other people’s property”.

Jailing the 25-year-old, the judge lamented that “there’s very little positive to be said for Mr Murray”.