A man accused of trying to murder 11 people at a holiday home thought he was Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars films, a High Court has heard.

Kieran Ridley told psychiatrist Dr James Finlayson he thought he was a Jedi Knight when he started the fire near Mallaig on 27 October 2015.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that the 32-year-old, from Worcester, made the admission in an interview.

Mr Ridley denies a charge of attempted murder.

His lawyers have entered a special defence which states that he was not criminally responsible for the alleged offence due to the state of his mental health in October 2015.

Dr Finlayson recalled the details of the interview when he gave evidence to defence advocate Herbert Kerrigan QC.

Reading from a report that he wrote about Mr Ridley's health, Dr Finlayson told the court about how Mr Ridley described his state of mind when he started the fire.

Dr Finlayson said: "He said 'it was a bit like Star Wars. I thought I was Luke Skywalker. I think it then went a bit mad.'"

Dr Finlayson, a defence witness, was giving evidence on the fifth day of proceedings against Mr Ridley, a prisoner of HMP Inverness.

Prosecutors and Mr Ridley's defence team have agreed evidence in which neither party disputes that Mr Ridley switched on a kitchen cooker at the property.

They have also agreed that he poured petrol onto a refuse bin which caused the flames to "take effect" in the kitchen.

Jurors have also heard that lawyers do not dispute that he then left the property having locked the front and back doors of the house.

The court heard that Mr Ridley also locked some of the windows in the property and that he did this whilst "being aware" that there were 11 people inside.

The youngest person in the property at the time was a two-year-old child, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The court heard how Mr Ridley was initially taken to a medical facility in Inverness after being detained by police following the fire.

However, he was then arrested after being assessed by medical staff there and taken to HMP Inverness.

Dr Finlayson interviewed Mr Ridley during this time period.

The consultant psychiatrist told Mr Kerrigan that his client said that a London-based psychiatrist had diagnosed him with "drug induced psychosis" earlier in 2015.

The court also heard an allegation that Mr Ridley said that he had taken magic mushrooms before starting the fire.

Mr Ridley, who worked in IT in the City of London, also told the psychiatrist that he drank 20 pints of cider.

He also said that he may have inhaled smoke from "cannabis" which was being smoked nearby. Mr Ridley said he thought this triggered the psychosis.

Reading from the report, Dr Finlayson told jurors: "He said he thought 'he was on a mission to burn down the house.'

"He said 'I was going to burn down the house.' He said 'I was going to be the hero.'

"He said he 'got the mission from a mastermind and he felt like a puppet on a string'.

"He said his family knew what the plan was. They wanted him to set fire to the house and kill them all."

Dr Finlayson said that Mr Ridley thought some of his family members were "demons" and that a dog that he saw on the day of the fire was "an android".

Prosecutors claim that Mr Ridley attempted to murder his mother Ann, his brother Duncan and a woman called Heidi Fernandez Saenz.

Mr Ridley is also alleged to have tried to murder a two-year-old child, an eight-year-old child, a 16-year-old child and a 15-year-old, all of whom cannot be named for legal reasons.

Other people who were in the house at the time of the alleged crime include Leann Sainsbury, Mark Sainsbury, Callam Chapman and Thomas Robinson.

The trial, before judge Craig Scott QC, continues.