Paul Anthony Bolger faces a maximum of 14 years behind bars for the arson attack on his North Tamworth house in 2013.

He remains on bail despite a Sydney jury finding him guilty of arson and fraud on Tuesday after an eight-week trial. 

It took the jury just a day to find Bolger guilty of a charge of dishonestly for gain damage property by fire or explosive relating to the fire off Johnston Street on the night of March 16, 2013.

He was also found guilty of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception for the associated insurance claim.

The key part of the Crown’s case against Bolger was his own security surveillance footage.

The jury was shown CCTV images which showed Bolger squarely inside the house and the room where the fire ignited before the flames erupted and engulfed the house.

Dozens of witnesses from Tamworth, including police, firefighters and other experts were flown to Sydney to give evidence in the trial, which began in the Downing Centre District Court in late-January.

Judge Stephen Norrish sent the 12-member jury out to deliberate on their verdicts late on Monday afternoon, before they returned on Tuesday with their decision.

The Crown tried to have Bolger’s bail revoked and him taken into custody, but Judge Norrish ruled he could remain on bail, setting several conditions including that he not approach an international point of departure.

Bolger will be sentenced in Sydney in April.

The jury cleared Bolger of three other arson and fraud-related charges, including a second fire at the same property on April 2 which ultimately destroyed the house, and damaging part of the neighbouring St Andrew’s Retirement Village, after the fire spread.

It was the Crown’s case that Bolger, a Tamworth businessman, torched the house on the second occasion to claim insurance, but the jury found him not guilty.

Strike Force Cobac was established by Oxley detectives in 2013 to investigate the blazes.

At the time of his arrest, detectives claimed Bolger caused the damage to the home for financial gain.

At the time of the first blaze, fire crews were called to the home about 10.30pm on March 16 after a blaze broke out in a bedroom and spread to the hall and another room.

Fire crews managed to stop the fire spreading, but much of the house also sustained smoke and water damage.

Bolger was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.

The fire was deemed an accident and didn’t come under police suspicion until a second suspicious blaze broke out on April 2.

Neighbouring residents reported seeing flames leaping from the same home and called triple-0.

The blaze took hold and spread to the roof before destroying the house.