Four schoolboys appear in court over Limavady fire

Four schoolboys appeared at Coleraine Youth Court over the blaze on Thursday

Four schoolboys have appeared in court charged in relation to a fire at a derelict former nightclub building in Limavady, County Londonderry.

More than 50 firefighters tackled the blaze at the former Sweet nightclub on Catherine Street on 30 May.

The three 12-year-olds and one 14-year-old, who cannot be named due to their age, appeared separately at Coleraine Youth Court on Thursday.

Crews from Coleraine, Limavady, Londonderry, Dungiven, Strabane, Magherafelt, Maghera and Castlederg all attended the fire.

All four defendants are charged with burglary of the property and intent to cause unlawful damage in relation to the blaze.

Two of the 12-year-old boys are also charged with arson “intending to damage such property or being reckless as to whether such property would be damaged and intending thereby to endanger the safety and lives of the residents”.

One of them is further charged with an offence of burglary with intent to steal.

The fire was eventually brought under control in the early hours of Friday 31 May.

The area was later evacuated after asbestos was discovered by experts in the roof tiles of the building.

In court on Thursday all of the schoolboys confirmed they understood the charges and a police officer gave evidence that she believed she could connect each of the defendants to their respective offences.

A prosecuting lawyer told the judge a “full file” was due to be received by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) next month so asked for the case to be put back until a date after that.

Defence lawyers for the four schoolboys did not raise any objections to this.

Granting bail to all four of the accused, district judge Peter King adjourned the case until August.

"It’s probably going to be Halloween time before there’s substantial movement given how serious the allegations are,” the judge said.