A COMPANY director who set fire to the building of a respected Musselburgh company owned by his own father has been ordered to wear an electronic tag.

Edgar Colliander set fire to a pile of cardboard inside the Sunrite Blinds outlet at Newhailes Industrial Estate in January last year.

Colliander, 35, caused an insurance cost of £237,264 during the incident, but fortunately no neighbouring residential properties were affected by the flames.

Colliander, of Sheriff Park, Edinburgh, had previously pleaded guilty to the fire raising and appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last Tuesday for sentencing.

Defence solicitor David Hunter told the court that the business went into administration shortly after the fire.

Mr Hunter said that his client had been “working extremely long hours every day of the week” in the lead-up to the fire.

Sheriff Frank Crowe said: “This is a very strange case. You pled guilty to deliberately setting a fire which destroyed the family business and put colleagues out of work.”

Sheriff Crowe sentenced Colliander to a nine-month Restriction of Liberty Order, meaning he will be confined to his home between 8pm and 6am.

Last month, fiscal depute Ann MacNeill told the court that the company had been set up by Colliander’s father in 1972 and employed about 40 people.

Ms MacNeill said that a neighbour spotted smoke pouring from the business premises at about 4.30pm on Sunday, January 25 last year and called the emergency services.

Fire crews attended and after the fire was under control, investigations showed the fire was started at two separate locations within the factory that stored cardboard. Colliander was spotted on CCTV footage leaving the unit minutes before the fire was reported.

Colliander pleaded guilty to wilfully setting fire to cardboard packaging at Sunrite Blinds, Unit 4 Newhailes Industrial Estate, Musselburgh, with the fire causing extensive damage to items and goods within the premises and to the building structure on January 25 last year.

A plea of not guilty to attempting to set fire to items within the premises and thus attempting to set fire to the premises on January 24 last year was accepted by the Crown.