Moldovan arsonist guilty of €2.7m fire loses appeal

THE Court of Criminal Appeal has rejected appeals brought by a Moldovan man against both his conviction and eight-year prison sentence for starting a fire that caused €2.7 million worth of damage in a Co Cork town.

In May 2007 Vladimir Raspopov, aged 36, originally from Moldova, but with an address at North Quay Place, Pope’s Quay, Cork, was convicted of five counts of arson in Skibbereen, Co Cork, on April 9, 2006, at Cork Circuit Court.

The blaze gutted the landmark Church Restaurant in the town and caused substantial damage to a number of adjacent premises.