Joker guilty of arson attack on Dublin school

A former pupil of a school in Dublin who dressed up as ‘The Joker’ from Batman and started a fire in the school building, burning it to the ground, has pleaded guilty to arson in court this week.

The arson attack at Colaiste Chillian on Nangor Road, Clondalkin on the 10th of May last year was said to have caused damage worth over £800,000.

19-year-old Christopher Clancy who was 17 at the time of the incident and still lives in the area entered a guilty plea at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Monday and is due to be sentenced in October.

Garda Liam Ganny explained to the court that Clancy used cans of petrol to start the fire in the school building. He said that when gardai arrived they saw a person dressed “in a purple suit, with green hair, a white face and red painted lips”.

He added that “he was dressed up as The Joker from ‘Batman. He then told us to go around the corner and we would see what he had done.”

Clancy admitted that he had planned the attack when he left the school because “it is run by hypocrites and I didn’t like the way they treated my friends”.