Teenager to stand trial for school blaze

Teenager to stand trial for starting fire which destroyed primary school. STV

Andrew Stretton, 17, is charged with setting the blaze at East Plean Primary School in 2010.

Stretton pleaded not guilty to the charges at Stirling Sheriff Court on Monday. The teenager will stand trial later this month accused of starting a fire which burned down a Victorian primary school. Andrew Stretton, 17, is charged with starting a fire which led to East Plean Primary School in Stirlingshire being completely destroyed.

On Monday, Stirling Sheriff Court heard the cost of the damage is now being valued as a "seven-figure sum".The school’s 160 pupils were initially bussed to classes in Raploch Primary School in Stirling, more than six miles away. They later moved into specially constructed temporary accommodation in Plean.

Stretton, from Plean, is accused of setting light to a cardboard box after forcing entry to a shed at the school, causing a fire which, it is alleged, then spread from the shed to the main building. He is also accused of stopping people from trying to extinguish the fire, and telling them not to contact the fire brigade on November 6, 2010. He denied the two charges on Monday.

Defence agent Virgil Crawford said he was still waiting on a report with the value of the damage, but the figure was continuing to rise, and a Crown witness was to value it at being a "seven-figure sum". He asked for a further hearing before the trial for investigations in relation to the cost of damage to be carried out. Sheriff Fiona Tait agreed to a further pre-trial hearing on February 20, with the trial taking place at the jury sitting commencing February 27. Forty firefighters and eleven fire engines were involved in tackling the blaze.