Newborn baby among people rescued when Louth IPAS centre set ablaze on Halloween
A 20-day-old baby was among the residents rescued when an IPAS centre was set ablaze on Halloween night last year, the circuit court has been told.
Fourteen people, among them nine children, were in the building on George’s Street, Drogheda, when the fire broke out.
Jonathan Judge (23), Irish Street, Ardee, Co. Louth, appeared in custody for sentencing having pleaded guilty to an arson charge last April.
Evidence was given that he kicked in the front door before going to the stairwell where CCTV captured him pouring petrol and lighting it with a lighter and then running away.
Gardaí could not establish a motive for the crime, while it emerged that the defendant’s home in Drogheda was subject to six arson attacks some years earlier.
Adjourning the case to October for finalisation, Judge Dara Hayes said that clearly a substantial sentence will be imposed.
On October 31, 2025, a resident was leaving the building around 7.55pm when he spotted two masked men, neither of whom was the accused, on bicycles at the rear. One held a bottle of what he believed to be petrol.
As he approached them they left the area, but the man became concerned and told other residents to lock their doors. He closed the gate before going to a shop.
A few minutes after he left he got a phone call from his wife saying that the building was on fire.
One adult and six children were upstairs; while downstairs were four adults and three children. Eleven other residents were not present at the time.
A woman was upstairs with her four children, including the newborn. She was also minding two of her neighbour’s children. They were rescued from a balcony by emergency services.
In a Victim Impact Statement she outlined how she had been discharged from hospital with the baby just two days before.
Her other three children were aged 15 months, six years and eight years.
She spoke of being trapped as they were inhaling smoke. Her eldest child said that he didn’t want to leave her behind.
Another woman was at work when she got a call from one of her two daughters saying that the building was on fire. A colleague drove her home.
She could see her daughters trapped inside before they were rescued.
Another man told of seeing six children covered in soot, coughing and struggling for breath. One of them was taken to hospital by gardaí because there was no room in an ambulance.
Firefighters used breathing apparatus to get the people out. The internal stairs, the only means of escape, were on fire.
Det Gda Michael Dixon testified that CCTV showed the two individuals leaving on bicycles after being confronted by the man. They were met by Jonathan Judge up the street some 200 yards away.
He went to the building and kicked in the front door before going straight to the stairwell where he can be seen pouring and lighting an accelerant with a lighter. As the fire engulfs the stairs he runs away in the Windmill Road direction he came from.
Footage of him setting the stairs on fire was previously played to the court.
He was spotted on CCTV around the Daybreak shop. Investigators recovered from a bin a pair of yellow and black gloves similar to those worn by him in the footage from the apartment building.
The defendant was also picked up on CCTV arriving back at a house in Moneymore, home of one of the two other suspects.
He was arrested on November 6 and during a series of interviews with gardaí said that he wouldn’t have been a participant in this because his home in Moneymore had been the subject of arson attacks resulting in him and his mother being relocated.
Mr Judge continued that he was in Moneymore at the time and that he had no reason to be at the IPAS centre.
It was put to him that six kids were upstairs. He described that as a “disgrace” and denied setting the fire.
When the CCTV footage was put to him he maintained the denials, and offered nothing of evidential value when the gloves were put to him.
Det Gda Dixon continued that gardaí could not establish a motive.
He said that the defendant, a father of two children, had no history of employment and had been coming to garda attention since the age of 12.
Between 2018 and 2023 his home in Moneymore had been targeted six times by arson attacks.
He has a drug and alcohol dependency and his mother has tried to help him.
There are nine previous convictions, including for robbery, theft and possession of knives, public order and possession of drugs.
Seven Victim Impact Statements were made, each read out by prosecuting counsel Steven Dixon BL. The mother of four was present in court.
She detailed in her statement the ongoing effects and health problems for her and the children, remarking that if the emergency services had not arrived in time they could have died.
Her husband, working at the time, said that he was anxious and scared when his calls home went unanswered after a friend told him what had happened.
He continued that Ireland is safe for them. They are trying to build a life here.
The man who approached the two men initially, said that he attempted to go up the stairs to help but couldn’t.
What happened would never be forgotten, he added.
Another resident recalled “the screams of families struggling to escape”, while one of his neighbours said that the culprits did not represent “the kindness and goodness of the people of Ireland”.
Defence counsel James McGowan SC said he was awaiting a psychiatric report on his client.
Judge Hayes requested a probation report and remanded Jonathan Judge in custody to October 28.