 | 'Former Labour MSP Mike Watson has been granted an appeal hearing to challenge the length of his jail sentence for wilful fire-raising.' BBC Scotland News, 11 th December 2005. |  |
| 'Former Labour MSP Mike Watson has been granted an appeal hearing to challenge the length of his jail sentence for wilful fire-raising.' BBC Scotland News, 11 th December 2005. | |
Former Labour MSP Mike Watson has been granted an appeal hearing to challenge the length of his jail sentence for wilful fire-raising.
The peer, 56, was sentenced to 16 months in prison for starting a fire and endangering lives at a hotel in Edinburgh in November last year.
The incident happened after the Scottish Politician of the Year awards at the Prestonfield House Hotel.
A date for the appeal hearing is yet to be set.
Watson, who had been drinking heavily at the ceremony, was sentenced in September after Sheriff Kathrine Mackie said there was a significant risk of him re-offending.
He had initially denied he was responsible, despite CCTV footage showing him crouching down at the base of a curtain just minutes before it was engulfed in flames.
After pleading guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court he stepped down as an MSP, triggering a by-election in his former Glasgow Cathcart constituency, and resigned as a director of Dundee United football club.
The blaze caused £4,500 worth of damage.
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