A BARRHEAD firebug who started a blaze outside a sandwich shop was snared after the attack was captured on CCTV.

Mark Stewart, 21, of Langton Crescent, started the fire behind the Subway store, in the town’s Main Street, on November 16 last year.

He pleaded guilty to the offence at Paisley Sheriff Court last week, after claims that the fire damaged electrical equipment were deleted from the charge.

His 23-year-old brother, John James Stewart, had also been accused of the same offence but his plea of not guilty was accepted by the Crown.

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The court was told how, after starting the fire, Mark Stewart watched the flames take hold before fleeing the scene.

Firefighters were called to extinguish the blaze and police were alerted.

Officers examined footage from CCTV in the area and identified Stewart, leading to him being arrested and charged.

Defence solicitor Eamonn McGeehan told Sheriff Tom McCartney that Stewart suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and was seen as “a vulnerable adult.”

He added: “He accepts this is a serious offence but he has a very limited record.”

Sheriff McCartney then called for background reports to be prepared ahead of sentencing and adjourned the case until next month for that to be done.

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Stewart was previously charged over a series of bomb hoaxes and school fires.

When he was 19, he faced 12 charges over his alleged antics in the summer of 2015, including claims he repeatedly set fire to St Luke’s High, in Barrhead, causing “extensive damage.”

Stewart was also said to have made bomb hoaxes about St Luke’s High, Barrhead High, Auchenback Primary and St Mark’s Primary, all in Barrhead, as well as St Ninian’s High, in Giffnock, leading to the schools being evacuated.

However, he walked free from that Paisley Sheriff Court case when it was dropped by prosecutors.

Stewart was also previously accused of carrying out 7,000 hacking attacks on Police Scotland’s website last year.

He was arrested, charged and remanded in custody over claims he broke the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

However, it later emerged that prosecutors dropped the case against him after he told police he was working alongside CID officers and using his computing skills to help them with their investigations.

When asked about the case being dropped, a Crown Office spokesman said: “The Procurator Fiscal deals with every case on its own individual facts and circumstances and will take action where there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to do so.

“Following full and careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of this case, Crown counsel instructed that there should be no further criminal proceedings.”