The Mysterious Burning of the Forum Centre - Was it Cannibis Related?

The full story of the burning of Irvine's disused Forum Shopping Centre (which then had to be demolished at great cost to the local tax payer) has yet to be told. 

The official story as it stands is that the fire, which badly damaged the building in February this year, was started deliberately by a member of Irvine's criminal underclass Kevin McElholm, although the actual motivation remains unstated.

In fact, at present this deliberate arsonist and drug addict is out on bail!

The damage that this fire caused to the adjacent Celtic Supporters Club raised suspicions that it was somehow "sectarian," but people like McElholm have no loyalties to anything except their own dysfunction. His criminal record has nothing sectarian or football-related in it. 

McElholm 

So, why would someone like this habitual criminal and social parasite start a fire in, of all places, the derelict Forum Centre? 

Well, maybe it had something to do with an earlier news story involving the unsuccessful former shopping centre, when it was discovered that the site was home to Scotland's biggest cannabis farm, being run by a vicious Albanian gang of illegal migrants.

As reported by the BBC:

"Three men have been jailed for running a cannabis factory at a derelict shopping centre in Irvine. Elton Skenderi, 30, Gjovalin Toma, 31, and Eduard Daja, 39, pleaded guilty after police seized thousands of plants at the former Forum in September 2024. Officers were tipped off by Scottish Power who had concerns about 'energy use' at the site. Skenderi was sentenced to five years and three months, Toma was jailed for six years and Daja was given six years and nine months. The High Court in Glasgow heard the cannabis was valued at somewhere between £611,600 and £1,834,800."

Irvine a "farming" town

Cannabis cultivation, as is well-known, uses grow lamps in windowless rooms and often involves dodgy electronics. In the context of a derelict building littered with garbage, like Irvine's Forum Centre, both of these are obvious fire hazards. 

As you can see there is not much of a gap between the busting of the Albanian cannabis cultivators and McElholm's mishap which led to a serious hit on the already cash-strapped North Ayrshire Council. 

Was McElholm possibly attempting to restart the Albanian drug farm in the Forum building on his own or with associates? Is it even possible he was connected to the Albanian drug gang? 

These are all questions to bear in mind, as well as asking why the police, the owners of these buildings, and, yes, North Ayrshire Council are apparently powerless to stop criminals freely using derelict buildings for their own purposes.