A son who tried to torch his father’s garden shed in the middle of the night told police he did it because he “hated” him.
Stuart Turner confessed to cops he was motivated by the strained relationship with his dad when he attempted to start the blaze.
The 26-year-old donned a balaclava and set alight paper in the shed, which was near a gas container.
Firefighters called to the scene discovered a strong smell of smoke coming from the garden outbuilding in Whitecraig, East Lothian.
Turner appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Friday and admitted a charge of attempting to start the fire on February 20.
Fiscal depute Heather Carmichael said a member of the public had spotted two males wearing dark clothing and balaclavas at around 4.20am and called police.
She said officers identified Turner and another person who were “covered in mud” and “appeared to reach into a bin on seeing the police car”.
The officers recovered balaclavas from the bin, the court heard, and Turner admitted one belonged to him.
Ms Carmichael said Turner told officers he “hated his father and wanted to scare his mother”.
Cops went to the father’s address to do a “welfare check, the hearing was told, and found a “strong smell of smoke coming from the garden”.
When firefighters arrived, Ms Carmichael said the watch commander found the “remains of burnt paper” which appeared to have been “set alight in a deliberate act”.
Defence agent Darryl Lovie, acting for Turner, said: “The fire, for what it was, was extinguished by Mr Turner after he thought about it.”
Mr Lovie said Turner had a “difficult relationship with his father”.
Sheriff Alistair Noble deferred sentence on Turner, of Musselburgh, East Lothian, until next month for reports.
Turner’s co-accused Ryan Gibson, 25, of Wallyford, East Lothian, had his not guilty plea to the same charge accepted by the Crown on Friday.
