An arsonist killed a fire safety officer when he set a hotel ablaze along a popular Mid Wales seafront resort.

Damion Harris, 31, had been out drinking before he entered the Ty Belgrave House in the early hours of the morning during the height of tourist season.

A court heard all 16 guests at the sold-out boutique hotel in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, were asleep when thick smoke began to fill the building after Harris started a fire in its basement.

Men, women and children were forced to climb to the hotel's roof and some even jumped from balconies to escape the flames in the early hours of July 25 last year.

Richard Simnett fell from the hotel's steep slate roof and suffered a number of serious injuries after he helped his partner and two sons aged five and four out of a window.

Juozas Tunaitis, 48, who was staying at the hotel while working as a fire safety contractor at Aberystwyth University, was the only guest who failed to escape and his remains were found underneath the collapsed building nearly two months later.

On Tuesday, Swansea Crown Court heard Harris used a cigarette lighter to set fire to a cupboard full of towels and sheets after he sneaked into the hotel around 2am after drinking in a pub and a nightclub.

Prosecutor Michael Jones said: "It was a hotel on the seafront during the summer at the height of tourist season.

"He must have known there were a large number of guests at the hotel at the time who were asleep.

"He carried out a clearly deliberate and obviously dangerous act.

"It was likely to result in serious injury or death, and that indeed is what occurred."

Harris was caught on CCTV removing a fire extinguisher from a wall in the reception area and hiding it on an upper level before returning downstairs to set a pair of net curtains on fire.

The flames on the curtains self extinguished but Harris entered the hotel's basement and then set fire to a cupboard containing linen before making his escape.

On Monday, Harris, from Llanbadarn Fawr, Aberystwyth, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, arson and inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent on the day his trial was due to begin.

He was originally charged with the murder of Mr Tunaitis, but his guilty plea to the alternative charge of manslaughter was accepted by prosecutors.

Judge Paul Thomas is hearing evidence from prosecutor Mr Jones before Harris is sentenced.

The case continues.