Scottish High Court of Justiciary Decisons

COLIN ALEXANDER CRABB v. HER MAJESTY'S ADVOCATE [1999] ScotHC 79 (30th March, 1999)

The appellant is Colin Alexander Crabb, who was convicted in the High Court at Dundee on 24 March 1998 of culpable homicide by wilful fire-raising. He was 29 years of age at the time of the offence. We are told by the Trial Judge in his report that the fire was set in the lower left ground floor flat of a 4-storey tenement block in Cardean Street, Dundee. There were eight flats which opened off the common close and stair. There were residents in each of the flats and, in addition, there were, at the material time, visitors in the first floor right flat. The fire probably took hold on the premises between about 11.15 and 11.30pm. There was satisfactory evidence that the first floor visitors arrived in the common close at about the earlier time and the emergency services were alerted just after the later time. The appellant had made an arrangement with his brother Kevin, and with the landlord of the flat, that a short assured tenancy would be granted in the appellant's favour, on his brother's tenancy coming to an end in December 1997. The keys of the flat were handed over to him on the day of the fire as part of a temporary arrangement which would have allowed him to take up residence as soon as his brother moved in to his new accommodation. It was generally agreed that he was in high spirits until about teatime in the afternoon of 26 November. At about that time, he telephoned Lisa Park, with whom he had had a relationship in succession to his brother. He told her about the flat. About 11.00pm he telephoned her again from a telephone box. He had been drinking but, according to her, was not too bad. He was able to telephone and was not totally drunk. From the blood alcohol count next day it was thought that, at 11.00pm on 26 November, he would have had a count of about 190 milligrams of ethanol per 100 cubic centimetres of blood. Allowing for the flexibility of description, he was clearly seriously affected by alcohol at the time of the fire. He made a series of attention-seeking comments. He told Lisa Park that he had broken his leg, that he had slashed his wrist and that he had overdosed. She had the impression that he wanted to arrange a liaison with her that night, but promised only that she would telephone him the next day. Given the times involved, it appears that the appellant must have used a nearby telephone box and returned to Cardean Street between about 11.00pm and 11.15pm. There is a telephone box in Morgan Street close to its junction with Cardean Street. The scientific evidence and the evidence of the fire officers demonstrated that the fire was started by igniting white spirit which was poured in some quantity onto articles in the livingroom of the flat. White spirit residues were detected on debris collected from the flat. A naked flame would have been required to cause ignition. The distribution of smoke and flame damage indicated a rapid build-up of heat, without initial smouldering. Plaster was stripped from the wall of the livingroom adjacent to the probable seat of the fire. Having set the fire, the appellant left the flat and stayed in the vicinity of the common close as it developed. He clearly knew where there was a telephone. He made no attempt to summon assistance. The fire was well alight when the other residents became aware of the smoke rising in the common close in the stair. By then they were trapped. The appellant's comments in shouted conversation with other residents, indicated a total preoccupation with his own interests and lack of concern for others. Most of the residents remained in their own flats with their doors shut. They were, in due course, rescued by the fire services or were able to make their way out of the tenement when the fire had been brought under control. Amanda Duncan was alone in her second floor flat. From the evidence before the jury she was terrified and in a state of panic. It appea