A 25-year-old man who took ideas from television programmes such as London Burning set fire to a derelict house, killing two people inside.
Dundalk Circuit Criminal Court accepted that Marinus Griffiths was not aware there were people inside the house at the time.
On the afternoon of 8 February, 2002, a disused roll of carpet had been left just inside the door way of the house at Mill Lane, off Trinity Street in Drogheda.
Marinus Griffiths and another man had left it there. Later that evening Griffiths returned and set fire to it. The blaze spread and gutted the house, killing 27-year-old Winnie Reilly and 35-year-old Thomas Maguire.
The homeless couple had been asleep inside but Dundalk Circuit Criminal Court heard today that the defendant did not know that at the time.
Griffiths, who had addresses in Drogheda and Dundalk, had pleaded guilty to a charge of damaging the building and contents.
The court heard that the defendant functions at a low level of intelligence and that he got his ideas from television programmes like The Bill and London's Burning.
Although no accelerants were found in the house, the defendant had said he practiced using a lighter and an aerosol.
Counsel for Griffiths said a place had been secured for him in a residential centre in Northumberland which would be paid for by the Department of Health.
Judge Pat McCarten described it as an appalling tragedy in which two people lost their lives. However, he said the defendant was not a criminal and he praised all those involved in finding the accommodation for him.
Sentence was adjourned for a year to allow the defendant attend the residential centre.
