Man admits burning war memorial flag while drunk

A volunteer discovered the burned flag at a village war memorial near Falkirk

A young man who drunkenly set fire to a union flag at a village cenotaph has been sentenced to community service.

Logan Straub, 22, said he was "wasted" when he torched the flag at the Easter and Wester Shieldhill and Summerhouse war memorial in June.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard that Straub, of Shieldhill, was ashamed of his behaviour, and was an active charity campaigner, raising funds and awareness of Huntington's disease.

He admitted wilful fire raising and was ordered to do 120 hours of community service, and to pay £100 compensation.

The court heard the flag had been purchased six weeks before the incident in June by a member of the local committee of the Orange Lodge.

A committee member, Allan Weir, later drove past the granite monument and noticed the Union flag had been lowered and burned.

CCTV showed “a male, under the influence, at around one o'clock that morning, walking past”.

With help from a local taxi company, police identified the suspect as Straub, and he was contacted.

He told officers: “I know this is to do with the flag. I was absolutely wasted. I don't know why I did it. I'm not a Unionist.”

He said he had used a lighter to set fire to the flag.

The union flag is flown at the war memorial in Shieldhill

Solicitor Murray Aitken, defending, said Straub was “now at a complete loss to understand why he did this”.

Mr Aitken said: “He is an intelligent boy and he is genuinely ashamed and embarrassed.

“I said to him that, in doing this job, it never ceases to amaze me how on the face of it relatively sensible people do the stupidest things.”

Sheriff Christopher Shead placed Straub under social work supervision for a year in addition to the community service and compensation order.

He said the crime was “a great pity” because of the “positive” nature of background reports on Straub.

Staub has spoken publicly in the past about losing his father, Mark, to Huntington's Disease in 2017.