Vimal Verma, 43, has been jailed after he set fire to his own hotel and forced 50 people including three children to be evacuated in Loch Tay, Perthshire – witnesses said he had been ‘acting weirdly’
An assistant manager who set fire to his own hotel after being ejected from a party for making people ‘uncomfortable’ has been jailed.
Vimal Verma, 43, forced nearly 50 people to be evacuated in the middle of the night after starting the blaze at the Killin Hotel, by Loch Tay in Scotland in April 2023. It included 40 guests, three of them children. In court, it was heard the live-in assistant operations manager at the hotel had been seen “acting weirdly” after being asked to leave a birthday gathering taking place in the staff accommodation because of his behaviour. He had only recently been hired on a trial basis.
Prosecutor James Moncrieff at Falkirk Sheriff Court said the member of staff whose birthday it was had cleaned and closed the bar at 11.30pm on April 21, 2023, before inviting fellow staff members, including Verma, up to her room for a few drinks. Mr Moncrieff said that as the party continued, Verma’s behaviour “began to make the others feel uncomfortable”. He said: “It was clear he was quite drunk and he was asked to leave”.
At 2.56am, Verma was recorded on CCTV leaving his room, entering the front foyer of the hotel, and walking straight across to a cycle storage area. Mr Moncrieff said a “bright flickering light” then appeared on the footage while he was still in the bike storage area, adding: “An item was seen being placed on top of the bicycles and a shadow could be seen moving around as the light intensified.”
Verma was recorded on CCTV “calmly” watching what was happening, and moments later the bicycle storage area was “well ablaze”. A staff member checked the hotel CCTV on an app, and saw smoke coming from the reception area. Other members of staff then rushed to the scene and found Verma “looking at the fire while swinging his arms back and forth”. Mr Moncrieff said: “The accused appeared startled by the arrival of the other members of staff. They asked him what he was doing and he replied, ‘nothing’.”
The hotel fire alarms activated, and the fire cut the hotel’s electrical supply. Sleeping guests were quickly evacuated as emergency services were called, and staff began to fight the blaze with fire extinguishers.
Verma was described as “still acting weird, and asking the guests what had happened”. He was arrested by police who arrived at the scene. Firefighters responding to the blaze said wicker chairs stacked against the wall of the storage area had been deliberately set alight. Mr Moncrieff said: “The total value of the property destroyed was £2600 but the fire had the potential to endanger the lives of the hotel occupants if it had spread unchecked.”
Father-of-one Verma was jailed for two years on Monday after pleading guilty to wilful fireraising, setting fire to a quantity of wicker chairs, damaging the chairs and two bikes, together with luggage attached to the bikes, and causing flames and smoke to fill a conservatory and the reception area at the hotel. He was also found to have caused the hotel to be evacuated, all putting people in danger.
A social enquiry report said he posed a high risk of harm. Solicitor Ken Dalling, defending, said Verma had been “isolated” in the remote Highlands village of Killin and had felt he didn’t fit in. Mr Dalling said: “He bitterly regrets his poor decision-making.”
