Holy Smoke, Batman!

A former school pupil dressed up as 'Batman' character 'The Joker 'and set fire to the building causing more than €1m worth of damage, a court heard yesterday.

Christopher Clancy (19) of Cherrywood Grove, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to arson at Colaiste Chillian on the Old Nangor Road on May 10, 2009.

Clancy, who will be sentenced later, told gardai when he was arrested at the scene that he burnt the school down "because it is run by hypocrites and I didn't like the way they treated my friends".

Garda Liam Ganny told the court that Clancy, who had left the school the previous November, filled six large jerry cans with petrol and cut his way through a wire-mesh fence to access the school grounds.

He smashed in a glass door and proceeded to spill the contents of one can along the corridor. He then lit the petrol and escaped from the school.

When gardai arrived at the scene they noticed a man dressed "in a purple suit, with green hair, a white face and red painted lips".

"He was dressed up as The Joker from 'Batman'," said Gda Ganny. "He then told us to go around the corner and we would see what he had done."

Clancy had video-recorded the burning building on his mobile phone and had planned to send the video clip to his friends.


- Nicola Donnelly

Irish Independent