A TRANENT man is facing a lengthy jail sentence after he was found guilty of setting fire to a home in Haddington.

Robert Fyvie smashed a window at a property at the town’s Carlyle Gardens and poured petrol into the home.

He then set light to the fuel, causing a blaze at the property which was said to have caused severe fire and smoke damage to the inside of the home.

Fyvie, of Muir Park, was then arrested by police officers following the blaze last February and during the journey to Dalkeith Police Station he began acting in an unruly manner.

The 39-year-old struggled violently with officers while in the back of a police van, causing one female officer to be dragged into the cell area of the vehicle.

He also pulled evidence bags from his hands and battled with the officers as they attempted to put handcuffs on him.

Fyvie had denied all the allegations against him and stood trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last week, where a jury eventually found him guilty of the two charges.

His not guilty plea to a separate charge of sending grossly offensive messages and uttering threats to a woman in Haddington on the same day was accepted by the Crown prior to the trial starting.

The jury heard evidence from police officers who described Fyvie’s aggressive behaviour in the police van and from witnesses concerning the incident where the fire took hold.

Sheriff Michael O’Grady QC heard from the jury that they had found Fyvie guilty of the fireraising on a majority verdict. The jury also found the Tranent man guilty of the incident involving him resisting arrest in the police vehicle by a unanimous guilty verdict.

Sheriff O’Grady released Fyvie on bail and deferred sentence to December 3.

Fyvie was found guilty of wilfully setting fire to a residential property by smashing a window, pouring petrol into the home and igniting the fuel where the fire took effect and caused fire and smoke damage to the property on February 2 last year.

He was also found guilty of resisting, obstructing and hindering a police officer by struggling violently with her, causing her to be dragged into the cell area of the vehicle, during the course of a journey between Haddington and Dalkeith on the same date.