Jury finds CFS arsonist Gregory John McGannon guilty of starting Adelaide Hills fires

A jury has ruled on the fate of a 30-year CFS volunteer accused of starting seven bushfires around the Adelaide Hills.

Veteran CFS volunteer Gregory John McGannon has been found guilty of setting seven bushfires around the Adelaide Hills on a day of total fire ban.

After deliberating for almost four and a half hours on Wednesday, a District Court jury of four men and eight women convicted McGannon of seven counts of arson and one count of driving dangerously to escape police pursuit.

McGannon, who has maintained since his arrest that he is not the firebug, showed little reaction as the verdicts were read.

After, he slumped in his seat in the dock and looked down at the floor, eyes wide and mouth open, then muttered and appeared to swear.

Gregory John McGannon during a scene visit for his trial. Picture: Emma Brasier

Mr McGannon, 63, of Hallett Cove, pleaded not guilty to lighting the January 24, 2021 bushfires at Cherry Gardens and Clarendon, and to driving dangerously to escape police.

Prosecutors alleged that, after lighting seven fires, he was caught with cigarette lighters, defaced licence plates and a blood alcohol reading of 0.145.

Since his arrest – during which he told police he spent “30 years in the CFS” – Mr McGannon has maintained he was trying to extinguish the fires, not light them.

His counsel argued he had to be acquitted because evidence tendered in the trial did not prove the seven fires were lit by the same “firebug”.

On Wednesday, the jury’s foreperson said it was not unanimous in its verdicts with regard to the first six fires, which the prosecution had sought to prove through circumstantial evidence.

However, she said 10 or more jurors were satisfied, beyond reasonable doubt, McGannon was guilty of those charges, and so convicted him by majority.

The foreperson said jurors were unanimous in their verdicts that McGannon was guilty of setting the seventh fire – which was eyewitnessed by two SA Police officers – and of attempting to escape by dangerous driving.

Judge Emily Telfer thanked the jury for its service, and remanded McGannon in custody to face sentencing submissions in November.