Four years for 'sectarian' arson

Three hundred people were inside the hall at the time

A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to four years detention for trying to set an Apprentice Boys hall in Londonderry on fire while 300 people were inside.

Caolan Kavanagh, from Hampstead Park, had already admitted the charge of arson with intent to endanger life at the memorial hall in Society Street.

District judge Pat Lynch, said it was "a sectarian act on people from a different community."

Kavanagh was also sentenced to a further two years on probation.

The city's magistrates court heard that Kavanagh was caught on CCTV approaching the hall with an accelerant which he then poured over a door and set alight.

An eyewitness told police that as Kavanagh went past her he sniggered and said "smoke them out".

CCTV operators then alerted door staff at a bar in Waterloo Street, who detained Kavanagh until the police arrived.

A defence solicitor said Kavanagh had been intoxicated at the time of the attack, and had to address his alcohol problems.

He said reports suggested Kavanagh had no deeply ingrained hatred of the other community.

Judge Pat Lynch said that "having emerged from the dark side of the Troubles, no one was to revisit them."

He said it was obvious Kavanagh knew people were in the hall and he knew he was endangering their lives.