Man who burgled and caused millions of pounds worth of damage after setting fire to Halifax branch jailed – The Irish News

A Co Armagh man who ‘broke’ and caused millions of pounds worth of damage ‘in a moment of madness’ when he torched a bank building in a ‘revenge attack’ over a dispute over the house insurance was closed.

Ordering Patrick Brennan (54) to serve 12 months in prison and two years on supervised license conditions, Judge Donna McColgan KC said she must impose an immediate custodial sentence.

The Craigavon ​​Crown Court jury, however, told Brennan that, given his mental health problems and based on submissions from KC Michael Chambers, defending, she imposed an “unequal split” between custody and licence.

At an earlier hearing, Brennan, of Ballyoran Park in Portadown, pleaded guilty to setting fire to a bank building belonging to Halifax on February 6.

Brennan was seen pouring liquid from a red container into the Halifax building through a broken window” and then proceeded to pour more liquid over the window ledges “and set it on fire”.

Brennan remained at the scene, sitting on the ground with a pair of gloves and the sledgehammer nearby and when the witness pointed him out, he was arrested.

Interviewed the next day, Brennan “fully admitted to starting the fire” and told police that a fire broke out at his home on the Corcrain estate in April 2022 when a neighbor accidentally put hot ashes in a chimney which then it caught fire and spread to him. the house, the damage to the garage and the second bedroom.

While the neighbor’s insurance policy had paid for the outside damage, his home insurance policy, which was in Halifax, had not.

The judge pointed out how Brennan told detectives that he looked up that morning and saw bins lined up with the numbers 666 and, from the diary he kept, realized that 666 days had passed since the fire that destroyed his house.

After going to two gas stations, he loaded the jerry cans, sledgehammer and gloves into a trolley, told his partner he was going for a walk and then went to the Halifax building where he broke a hole in the window and poured. gasoline and set it on fire.

Halifax initially estimated it would cost £1.2 million to repair the damage and reopen the branch, but a later estimate added another million to the cost. It was decided not to rebuild.

Judge McColgan told the court there were several aggravating features, including the amount of damage caused, its widespread impact and that the fire “would be seen as a revenge attack”.

In mitigation, his defense pointed to Brennan’s exemplary record, completely clear criminal record and ongoing mental health issues.