Mark Gordon Bird sentenced to four years in prison for burning down two of his houses and kombi van

A man who pleaded guilty to burning down his two southern Tasmanian houses and a kombi van to make fake insurance claims has been sentenced in the Supreme Court.

A picture of the house fire on January 6, 2017 at Huon Highway, Geeveston. Picture: STEWART WARDLAW

A SOUTHERN Tasmanian man who burned down two of his houses and a kombi van across a decade to make fraudulent insurance claims will spend at least two years behind bars.

In the Supreme Court in Hobart, Mark Gordon Bird, 57, had previously pleaded guilty to a series of charges relating to three incidents dating from 2007 to 2017.

Bird was charged with unlawfully setting fire to property and dishonestly acquiring a financial advantage in relation to a fire that destroyed his VW Kombi in September 2007.

In sentencing, Justice Michael Brett said Bird was paid $7700 from a subsequent insurance claim.

Bird was also charged with arson and dishonestly acquiring a financial advantage in relation to a fire at his home in Blackmans Bay in 2012.

The court heard Bird poured fuel around the interior of the home and deliberately damaged the front door lock to make it look like someone else had broken in to start the fire.

Bird received $557,000 from an insurance claim for that fire.

He was also charged with arson and attempting to dishonestly acquire a financial advantage relating to a fire which completely destroyed his home on the Huon Highway at Geeveston in 2017.

Firefighters at the scene on January 6 described the blaze as a “raging inferno”. At the time, the Mercury reported the two-storey home burst into flames just after 10.30am and the fire was so intense that investigators were unable to establish its cause.

The court heard on Thursday that animals at the property at the time died in the fire.

Bird had tried to make an insurance claim for damage caused by the blaze, which the court heard could potentially have been worth $705,000.

Justice Brett said the crimes were serious and dishonest, repeated over a long period of time and “financially motivated because of a long period of heavy spending”.

The court heard Bird had emigrated from the UK in 1995 and served in the army in East Timor and had been subsequently diagnosed with PTSD.

Bird was sentenced to four years in prison and will be eligible for parole after serving at least half that sentence.

Originally published as Mark Gordon Bird sentenced to four years in prison for burning down two of his houses and kombi van