THE HISTORIC Crumlin Road courthouse in Belfast was set on fire for two nights running at the weekend. A suspected arson attack on Friday night/Saturday morning was followed with petrol bombs thrown on Saturday night.
About 30 people gathered shortly after midnight and hurled petrol bombs into the building which had been extensively damaged the night before. Police were called to the scene and dispersed the crowd gathered at Hopewell Street at the rear of the building. The fire service put out the fire. Crumlin Road was closed while it was dealt with and remained shut through the night.
The court, which closed for business in 1998 has been targeted before this weekend, the last time in March.
The fire service spent seven hours fighting a blaze in the court early on Saturday. They said a large amount of damage had been caused by the first fire, which destroyed most of the roof. Michael Graham of the fire service said: “We believe the fire was started deliberately. There is a large amount of damage right through the property – the vast majority of the centre section of the roof is completely burned away.”
The PSNI said it too suspected the fire was started deliberately, but because of safety concerns, engineers had been called in to carry out an examination before anyone searched to confirm the fire was arson. The grade B listed building, designed by Sir Charles Lanyon, opened in 1850 and was the scene of many hundreds of trials through the first three decades of the Troubles.
A tunnel leads from the dock of No 1 court under the road to the Crumlin Road prison which is also closed and now a tourist attraction.
When it closed in June 1998 it was put into cold storage and sealed off. Developer Barry Gilligan later bought the property from the government for a nominal £1.
Initially it was expected to be turned into some form of tourist attraction but in 2006 he announced plans to convert the building into a luxury hotel but no work has ever been started.
Last March, another arson attack resulted in the destruction of some 40 per cent of the court building, but its ornate facade was preserved.