Bendigo, Shepparton tenpin bowling bushfire gang: Justin Hagley, Scott Hagley and Andrew Valli jailed

Members of ‘The Three Terrors’ tenpin bowling team have been jailed over their disastrous bushfire lighting spree across Central Victoria.

Three Bendigo tenpin bowling mates who became some of the state’s worst firebugs have been jailed over their “disastrous” bushfire lighting spree during the height of the Black Summer crisis.

Brothers Justin and Scott Hagley and their mate Andrew Valli on Friday faced the Melbourne County Court over a series of 44 fires lit in scrub and farmland in late 2019 and early 2020.

The men lit the fires on their way to and from their Friday night bowling competition in Shepparton, mostly by throwing lit sparklers from their Justin Hagley’s car.

The fires cost the Country Fire Association more than $650,000 to extinguish, and caused thousands more in damage to haystacks, sheds and fences.

Justin Hagley, 38 and Valli, 32 had previously pleaded guilty to 14 counts of intentionally causing bushfires and one count of attempting to cause a bushfire, while Scott Hagley, 37 had previously pleaded guilty to 13 counts of intentionally causing bushfires and one count of attempting to cause a bushfire.

The court heard the Hagley brothers both had previous arson convictions, and that said Scott Hagley was a diagnosed pyromaniac.

Huntly man Justin Hagley, 38, pleaded guilty to 14 charges of intentionally causing bushfires, and one count of attempting to light a fire from November 2019 to March 2020. Picture: Facebook

Huntly man Scott Hagley, 37, has been diagnosed with pyromania: Facebook

The trio, who named their bowling team “Bad Boys 2” or “The Three Terrors”, started their weekly ritual of lighting fires beside the road in November 2019, and continued until their arrests in March 2020, during which time police planted a listening bug in Justin Hagley’s car.

The trio’s spree continued into 2020, largely because a series of intense police patrols between Bendigo and Shepparton coincided with the bowling league’s Christmas break.

Judge Lauritsen said none of the men had tried to portray another as a ringleader, were “keen to see the spectacle” of bushfires, and were “oblivious to the consequences” of their actions.

A series of psychological and psychiatric reports portrayed the men as relative loners, who had struggled throughout their school and work lives.

The men had problems including impulse control, borderline intellectual disabilities and difficulties telling right from wrong.

The court heard Valli stormed out of a session with his psychologist when asked about his role in the fires, saying: “This is doing my head in, it makes me upset because I have f**ked up”.

Valli described his actions as “just stupid”.

“I thought it was a bad idea. I’d take it back if I could,” Valli told his psychologist.

Scott Hagley told a psychiatrist he was unlikely to light fires again because “I hate jail, so it will not happen again”, while his brother told a psychologist he wished he could “turn back the clock”.

When police bugged the car in early 2020, they overheard Justin Hagley telling the other two: “They can’t say that we lit them because … they can’t prove that we lit ‘em”.

When arrested, Justin Hagley was the only one to fess up to police, saying: “We already had bushfires going in the Gippsland area, why not start something in the centre of Victoria?”

All four men will spend at least four years behind bars.

Judge Lauritsen sentenced Justin Hagley to six years and four months jail with a four year and two month non-parole period.

He sentenced Scott Hagley and Valli to six years jail with four year non-parole periods.

Originally published as Bendigo, Shepparton tenpin bowling bushfire gang: Justin Hagley, Scott Hagley and Andrew Valli jailed