Accused arsonist Bradley has bail hearing adjourned again

The man accused of burning to the ground the building that housed his former business and setting fire to a woman’s garage was in court again today — very briefly.

Jay Bradley appeared in court Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023, via Zoom from Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ontario. He was wearing the orange coveralls customary of inmates in provincial custody, and his hair and appearance were tidy.

Her Worship Justice of the Peace Ruth E. Campbell addressed Bradley as the man at “Central East”; this appeared to confuse Bradley, who said, “You mean Lindsay, I’m in Lindsay,” and that he had “never heard of Central East.”

Bradley’s lawyer, Brian Wilcock, asked to be put in a breakout room with his client. After a few minutes, he returned to request an adjournment, saying he needed to discuss things at more length with Bradley and that he would arrange times to meet with Bradley over the course of the next week.

Justice Campell adjourned the matter and ordered a return date of Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023. The whole appearance took less than five minutes.

This was Bradley’s third appearance in court since his arrest on Friday, Nov. 3, 2023, when he was charged with arson in connection with a fire that burned down the York Street arena in Napanee, where he operated a roller skating rink. He had recently been evicted from the arena following a dispute with the property’s management, the Lennox Agricultural Society (LAS).

Since the time of his eviction, Bradley had a very visible social media presence, criticizing the LAS — or “The Napanee Fair Board,” as he calls them — in many posts and videos on social media complaining about the “malicious intentions” of the LAS toward him. Many of Bradley’s Facebook posts on this subject were deleted from his account in the week leading to his arrest. A video taken on October 16, 2023, and uploaded to YouTube and Facebook remains.

Titled “Final Announcement – I tried my best to keep the magic alive,” the video shows Bradley sitting in a vehicle at night. He details his reasons why he was denied a renewed rental agreement, accuses the “Fair Board” of lying to him, and describes them as “unethical.”

“I was a threat. They didn’t like me on the Fair Board. They didn’t like me being in the building. And because I was challenging them on these things, that is why they decided to push me out of the building,” Bradley theorizes in the video. “So I would have to say that yes, I’m a little bitter about the whole situation.”

Besides the fire at the LAS-owned arena, Bradley is also accused of threatening conduct towards the president of LAS and burning down her garage and car at a residential property in Stone Mills. At the time of his arrest, the L&A County OPP conducted search warrants at three locations in the City of Kingston.

Bradley is charged with two counts of arson (with disregard for human life), criminal harassment (threatening conduct), and possession of incendiary material.

Kingstonist will keep readers updated as Bradley’s court appearances continue.