It was during the night towards Tuesday 25 August this year that the police arrested a 40-year-old man suspected of arson after a villa in Ankarsrum burned to the ground.

It was the suspect himself who sounded the alarm, he lived in the villa and rented it from the property owner. 

It was the second time I called SOS Alarm that day.

Earlier he had called and said that he saw smoke from the football field in Ankarsrum but it turned out to be a false alarm.

- I was terribly ashamed afterwards, the man says during the trial.

Would move from the house

The man is also suspected of being behind a garage fire at the beginning of the summer.

The garage was on the same property as the house he rented.

It was he who alerted 112 that time as well.

The fire did not cause much damage but it is classified as arson

Two days before the garage fire, the 40-year-old had been told by the property owner that he would move out within three months.

The reason was that he did not take care of the garden around the house that they had agreed on.

- I was not angry with him, it was okay that he fired me, says the suspect.

The man denies the allegations of arson, but pleads guilty to ringing the false alarm.

The technical investigations have shown that the fire in the garage was started.

Remains of candles were found there and no flammable liquids were stored in the garage, only wood and insulation materials.

How the fire started in the villa could not be determined because the fire damage was so extensive.

Spark fluid on the socks

The chamber prosecutor Patrick Sonevang emphasized in particular that there was some kind of lighter fluid on the socks that the man was wearing the evening when the villa started to burn.

The man does not know how the liquid ended up on his socks, he had no lighter fluid at home.

The man's defense lawyer pointed out that there have been several fires in Ankarsrum in recent years.

Several of them occurred before his client moved to the resort and when he was in custody, another fire broke out.

This means that the defense shows that there is an alternative perpetrator.

Several witnesses will be heard during the trial, both police, firefighters and neighbors.

The trial continues on Thursday.