Moray fire attack victim speaks out after labourer, Scott Finnie, jailed for setting fire to caravan near Buckie

A woman who lives alone in an isolated croft has spoken of the frightening night when a static caravan on her property was deliberately set alight.

Scott Finnie was jailed at Inverness Sheriff Court today for the attack which happened near Buckie on September 12 last year.

The croft owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: “I was on the phone at 9.30pm at night when my dogs suddenly began pacing anxiously round the room.

“I looked out of my window and there were 85ft-high flames coming from the caravan.

“Scott Finnie was there on the skyline dancing around like the devil. It was just bizarre behaviour. He was acting like that on purpose to scare me.”

The woman says that the burning caravan was just 20ft away from a wooden stable where she keeps three Shetland ponies.

She locked herself out of her house in case Finnie tried to get inside and went outside to rescue the ponies.

The woman added: “I rang the police and luckily they came almost immediately. They must have been just passing at the time. The fire service also arrived quickly but they couldn’t save the caravan.”

Finnie had disappeared from the scene by this time. However his presence near the scene was confirmed later that night.

Body cams worn by the firefighters captured footage of him at a water source about a mile away from the croft.

The woman says a police guard was placed at her property for the next 48 hours, followed by an unmanned police vehicle which was parked there as a deterrent.

Finnie was eventually arrested in Aberdeen four days after the attack.

The court heard had that the 36-year-old had originally replied to an advert on Gumtree asking for a gardener and general labourer.

He provided a false name and a “glowing” CV, then appeared unannounced at the croft.

The woman allowed Finnie to pitch his tent on her property, but was reluctant to give him work.

The defendant’s subsequent behaviour in the week afterwards gave her cause for alarm and she decided to contact a community garden project in Fife where he had claimed to work.

It was at this point, on August 28, that she learned that Finnie had given her a false name and had also been in previous trouble with the police.

By chance Finnie had already left the croft early next morning but had left some of his possessions there.

The woman messaged him to say that she had learned the truth. She told him not to come back, but added that he could send someone else to collect his things.

Finnie replied telling her he could go anywhere in Scotland, that he wanted his belongings and if he didn't get them he would kill her.

He returned to the croft a fortnight later on September 12 and set light to the caravan.

Finnie appeared at court today, Tuesday, July 30, from prison as he is already serving a six-month sentence for a completely separate incident where he flew a drone near Aberdeen Airport.

Defence solicitor Grant Daglish said: "He had been drinking and does not remember anything. He does not know what happened but accepts the fire must have been deliberate."

Finnie was jailed for 16 months, backdated to September 18 last year.

His victim said: “He has problems. I hope that he gets the help that he needs.”