A teenager who tried to burn down his school was given a four year suspended jail sentence when he pleaded guilty to arson yesterday.
Roy Kelleher (17), of, Macroom, Co Cork, lit three fires in Bishop McEgan College in Macroom on the night of November 4th, 1994.
Supt Kieran McGann told Judge A.G. Murphy in the Cork Circuit Court that Kelleher had been drinking with friends. He set fire to a chair in an office, to papers in the assembly hall and to a table in another room before running away. Three of his friends were still in the school when the fire started.
School principal Mr Brendan O'Brien described Kelleher as suffering from behavioural problems related to his parents' marriage break up. He would not benefit from a jail term. The judge suspended his sentence on condition that he did not associate with a former friend.