The Burning Desire

A serial arsonist. A mass killing. A predator who refused to stop.

‘Among the most dangerous serial arsonists ever documented.’ – Ed Nordskog, international arson profiler

‘He will remain dangerous for life.’ – Dr Rod Milton, forensic psychiatrist

Fire was only the beginning. Two men. Two infernos. Twenty-one dead. Both were serial arsonists. One would later return to court as a sexual predator.

In 1975, Reginald Little set the Savoy Hotel ablaze in Kings Cross, killing 15 people in an eruption of rage. In 1989, Gregory Allan Brown torched the Downunder Hotel, killing six young travellers from six nations. When asked why he didn’t warn them, Brown replied, “I didn’t want to. I didn’t care.”

Little’s violence was explosive and self-destructive. Brown’s was calculated and remorseless. Different motives. The same devastation.

Brown did not stop at one fire. Over decades, he lit more than 500 across Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, many in occupied buildings. International arson profiler Ed Nordskog, who has studied 1,500 serial fire-setters worldwide, ranks Brown among the five most dangerous serial arsonists ever documented.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr Rod Milton, who profiled notorious serial killers Ivan Milat and John Wayne Glover, described him as the most dangerous criminal he had encountered and warned the courts he would remain a threat for life. The warning proved correct.

Years later, Brown resurfaced as a sexual predator and manipulated the courts with a fabricated history. His lies secured leniency. Investigative work by author Geoff Plunkett, conducted alongside original Downunder investigators and expert witnesses, exposed the deception and led to Brown’s return to prison for perjury.

The human cost remains. Lives erased. Families shattered. A daughter who knows her mother only through photographs. A couple, one week from marriage, smiling in a final image taken minutes before their deaths.

Together, these cases expose the disturbing psychology of serial arson, from cold psychopathy to explosive fury, and reveal one of the most overlooked forms of mass killing.

Fire destroys in minutes. Its damage lasts for generations.

‘A powerful examination of two serial arsonists and the deadly psychology that turned fascination with fire into mass murder.’

‘More than a story of arson, this is a stark portrait of escalation, from remorseless killing to calculated predation.’