Peter Bradshaw jailed for arson after apartment fire

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Peter Bradshaw was sentenced at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 11 years in prison, with the final three years suspended on strict conditions. Judge Martin Nolan imposed the sentence for an arson at Bradshaw’s Glin Court apartment in Coolock, Dublin, on 24 January 2018. The proceedings were reported on 3 July 2019.

Bradshaw pleaded guilty to arson.

The fire brigade determined that the fire began in Bradshaw’s apartment and spread to adjoining apartments. Residents were moved to emergency accommodation, and the estimated cost to Dublin City Council was €782,027. The report said Bradshaw later claimed he had set a mattress alight because he thought a dead body was on it and planned to fake his own death. He subsequently accepted that he had not murdered anyone.

Bradshaw had 40 previous convictions, including an arson conviction for which he received a five-year prison sentence in 2009. Patrick Jackson BL, defending, said Bradshaw had been diagnosed with multiple conditions and experts accepted he was sometimes delusional. He asked the judge to be as lenient as possible.

Judge Nolan said Bradshaw had been competent at the time and was not insane. He said Bradshaw seemed to be a danger to society and to have a propensity for setting fires. He also said people could have died but for the alert actions of an apartment occupier.