'No comment - it wasn’t me' - what homeless man found asleep in burning A-listed mansion told police

Kenneth Coleman smashed a window and gained entry to the A listed Dalmeny House before lighting the fire within the property’s Courtyard Room.

He then left the fire burning before breaking into the mansion’s boiler house - owned by Lady Jane Kaplan and her husband Michael - where he settled down for the night.

The 45-year-old was found sleeping in the boiler area after police and the fire service had been called out to attend to the blaze last month.

Coleman appeared from custody at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and was jailed for six months after admitting charges of housebreaking and wilfully setting the fire.

Fiscal Heather Naismith told the court a fire alarm at Dalmeny House, near South Queensferry, went off at around 7.30pm on November 18 this year.

Firefighters attended and discovered a small fire within the kitchen area and a box of matches was found nearby.

Police searched the property and Coleman, whose last address was given as Dundee, was subsequently found fast asleep within the nearby boiler room.

He was arrested and told officers: “No comment - it wasn’t me.”

Solicitor Jonathan Campbell, defending, said his client had been wandering through the grounds of Dalmeny Estate that night “looking for somewhere to sleep”.

Mr Campbell said: “He was cold, wet and had nowhere to stay. He presumably lit the fire for warmth.”

The brief added Coleman had “difficulties with substance misuse” and there had been “relatively minor damage” caused by the fire.

Sheriff John Mundy said: “In light of your previous offending a custodial sentence is inevitable.”

Coleman was sentenced to six months in prison.

Coleman pleaded guilty to wilfully setting fire to the kitchen area and causing damage at the Courtyard Room at Dalmeny House, Dalmeny Estate, South Queensferry, near Edinburgh, on November 18 this year.

He also admitted to breaking into the boiler shed with intent to steal on the same date.

Dalmeny House is a gothic revival mansion completed in 1817 and is protected as a category A listed building while the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and designed Landscapes in Scotland.

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