Canadian veteran who set fire to vacant condo complex, causing $4M in damage, won’t serve jail time

Canadian soldiers from Task Force 3-09 Battle Group are seen in silhouette as they patrol at the start of operation Tazi, a village search and securing operation in the Dand area of Kandahar Province, southern Afghanistan Monday, Jan. 25, 2010. (AP / Kirsty Wigglesworth)

A Canadian combat veteran who set fire to a vacant condominium complex, causing an estimated $4 million in damage, will not serve any jail time after a British Columbia judge found his post-traumatic stress disorder contributed to his crime.

Brandon Eric Glossop was convicted of one count of arson after admitting he set fire to the under-construction building in the Vancouver Island community of Sidney.

According to court records, Glossop visited a gas station on Dec. 27, 2022, where he purchased about 20 litres of gasoline in a jerrycan. He then went to the multi-level condo complex, which was just days away from welcoming its first occupants, and poured gasoline in the hallways, stairwells and multiple suites on the building’s fourth floor.

The court heard that Glossop propped open doors and windows to fan the flames before igniting the gasoline in multiple locations. The building’s sprinkler system activated, dousing the flames but causing significant water damage throughout the structure, B.C. provincial court Judge Carmen Rogers wrote in his sentencing decision.

Wars in Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine

Glossop, a 36-year-old veteran of Canada’s war in Afghanistan, who would later volunteer to fight with militias in Syria and Ukraine, was arrested near the scene of the fire, telling officers that he had “torched the fourth floor,” according to the judge’s decision.

“He was noted to smell strongly of fuel and to be in possession of a Bic lighter,” the judge wrote. “He had been drinking heavily.”

The damaged condominiums had been pre-sold, with the owners set to occupy the building in January 2023. Glossop knew the building was empty when he lit the fire, the judge said, because he was briefly hired to work on the construction site.

The court heard that Glossop joined the Canadian Army at age 18, deploying to Afghanistan two years later. “His experiences in Afghanistan were traumatic, as one might expect of a young man serving on the front lines of an active war,” Rogers wrote. “He developed a drug and alcohol problem for which he received treatment in 2011 and again in 2013.”

The soldier was honourably discharged from the military in 2013 but soon joined a Kurdish-led militant group in Syria, where he spent three months battling the Islamic State.

‘Little recollection’ of crime

When Glossop returned from the warzone, “with its accompanying horrors,” his drug and alcohol use increased, according to the court. A psychologist diagnosed him with PTSD in 2016, and with cocaine- and alcohol-use disorders the following year.

One week after his arrest in the arson investigation, Glossop breached his pre-trial release conditions by drinking alcohol and possessing a lighter and was sentenced to one day in jail. Later, he was convicted of failing to attend court and was handed another one-day sentence. But by then, Glossop was already overseas in search of another war.

The court heard that the former soldier left Canada shortly after the alcohol breach and was still in Ukraine when he missed his preliminary hearing later that year. Glossop returned to Canada and was arrested in Alberta, where he was held in custody from May to August 2024.

He was released to live at a Vancouver Island treatment centre, completing a 60-day program before moving into sober-living residences for veterans in Nanaimo and then Surrey.

Veterans Affairs Canada later moved him to a facility in Powell River, where the judge says he would undergo magnetic shock therapy to treat depression and trauma.

A psychiatric assessment provided to the court before sentencing confirmed Glossop’s PTSD diagnosis, finding his drug and alcohol disorders appeared to be in remission.

The military veteran has “little recollection” of his actions on the night of the arson, the judge acknowledged. “He has made some attempts to make sense of his actions, but I accept that his comments about his actions are attempts to reconstruct the events as opposed to any actual memory of his intentions.”

Support from Veterans Affairs Canada

Glossop addressed the court directly, accepting responsibility for the arson and apologizing to the victims.

His lawyer argued that since PTSD was at the very root of his client’s crime, and because Glossop has made efforts to mitigate the effects of the disorder, he should be released from custody on a conditional sentence of two years less a day, followed by three years of probation.

The Crown argued for a custodial sentence of two to three years in prison, saying a conditional sentence would not adequately meet the principles of a fit sentencing.

Victim impact statements told of “devastating financial and emotional impact” on the condo owners and property developers, some of whom suffered “psychological damage,” the judge summarized.

“The owners of the condos within the building had structured their lives with the belief that they would be able to occupy their homes in early 2023,” Rogers wrote. “As a result of the fire, their move-in was delayed significantly, causing disruption, uncertainty, stress, and costs both financial and emotional.”

The judge found that Glossop’s use of gasoline as an accelerant to fuel the fire was an aggravating factor in the crime, as was the nearly $4 million in damage that his actions caused.

‘Revenge’ motive unproven

The court heard that Glossop’s motive for setting the fire was “revenge,” though the judge found insufficient evidence to bear that theory out.

Rogers cited several mitigating factors in the case, including Glossop’s remorse and relative youth – 33 years old at the time of the crime. The offender’s guilty plea and ongoing support from Veterans Affairs Canada were also cited in his favour.

“Glossop, while responsible for his own choices, has lowered moral culpability as a result of the impacts of PTSD,” the judge concluded, sentencing the former soldier to two years less a day of house arrest, followed by two years of probation.

Under the conditions of his release, Glossop must keep the peace and remain in B.C. unless he obtains written permission from the court to leave the province. He is barred from possessing weapons and incendiary devices, and from consuming alcohol and drugs.

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