Former courthouse blaze 'deliberate'

A fire at an iconic 150-year-old courthouse in the North was started deliberately, the fire service said today.

Around half the disused Crumlin Road Courthouse in north Belfast was lost following yesterday afternoon’s blaze. However, the imposing facade and walls were saved, with most damage confined to the back.

The roof collapsed and forced two floors into the underground cells, Belfast fire service area commander Chris Kerr added.

More than 10,000 republican and loyalist paramilitary members passed through the building’s courtrooms during the decades of violence.

Mr Kerr said: “It was started deliberately. When we arrived we could see smoke coming from the roof.

“We were going through vast quantities of water to contain and extinguish the fire.”

There were 15 fire appliances called. The building has been empty since 1998 but developers hoped to turn it into a luxury hotel.

Mr Kerr said there was some concern the structure had been affected by the intense heat and added experts were to consider the damage today.

The courthouse, which opened in 1850, is reputed to be where the phrase “send him down” was coined, as an underground tunnel links it to the sprawling Crumlin Road jail nearby.

Some of the most infamous episodes of the Troubles took place in the Crumlin Road Courthouse.

The supergrass trials were heard within its walls, where paramilitary members gave evidence against their former comrades as part of a policy to disable armed groups.

Loyalist killer Lenny Murphy of the Shankill Butchers, the Ulster Volunteer Force gang that abducted, tortured and murdered Catholics, was jailed in the 1970s after a trial at Crumlin Road.

In 1981 IRA members used a gun smuggled into the court complex to take prison staff hostage. They exchanged gunfire with police outside the building as they made their escape.

The court also dealt with IRA prisoners jailed during its so-called border campaign of the late 1950s.