Swanston Golf Academy fire: Edinburgh police believe fire was started deliberately and appeal for witnesses and CCTV to trace teens wearing puffer jackets

Members and coaches at Swanston Golf Club were left devastated by the fire which started shortly before 11:45pm on December 30.

A fundraising campaign has been launched to help with the rebuild of the purpose built academy which had four driving range bays and a specialist coaching bay where the latest swing radar technology was used as part of the training.

It means the club’s members, visitors and 170 juniors will no longer be able to practice their golf there.

In a statement released today, police in Edinburgh said they believe the fire was started deliberately and officers are now appealing for information, particularly in relation to three male youths seen in the area around the time of the fire. They are described as being between 14 and 18-years-old and all wearing puffer style jackets.

One of them was described as being around 5ft 6in to 5ft 10in tall and of slim build with short dark hair. He was wearing a waist length ribbed puffer jacket with a hooded top underneath with the hood pulled up, light coloured tracksuit trousers and dark trainers.

Detective Constable Ewan Bates, of Corstorphine CID, said: "This fire has caused considerable damage to the facilities at the golf club and will mean disruption to the services they can provide for some time.

"We would urge anyone who may have seen anyone in the area of the golf club between around 10pm to midnight on Thursday, 30 December to let us know as soon as possible.

"We would urge anyone who may have dashcam footage or private CCTV to review this and pass on anything which may be of use to us.

"You can pass information to Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident 0078 of 31 December, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."

Coach Peter Arnott told the Edinburgh Evening News last week that the facility had become a real community for golfers to practice, and that the golf academy website was due to be launched on New Year’s Day with structured learning programmes for the junior members, ladies, girls, beginners, recreational golfers and elite pathways.

He also said they had been “blown away” with the support from the golfing community around the world.

Swanston based club fitter Scott Gourlay has allowed them to continue with coaching for the next few weeks by enabling use of two bays at his facility which is located next door.

As well as the driving range bays and coaching bay, the fire destroyed a van parked beside the building and some recently bought floodlighting as well as some iPads and two big televisions locked inside.

Anyone who would like to donate to help with the rebuild can do so HERE.

More than £17,600 of their £50,000 target has been raised so far.

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