A CARE worker is facing jail over an arson attack at a nursing home which he carried out as an act of revenge after he was suspended.

Darren Stephen Hayes, aged 30, set fire to the basement of Shannon Court in The Haulgh as elderly residents slept upstairs.

The night worker had been suspended from the private care home in Radcliffe Road the morning before the fire on October 9, 2006, after complaints about his behaviour.

That evening Hayes poured petrol around a laundry room which vapourised and ignited unexpectedly - causing a massive fireball which blew him through a door.

Firefighters found Hayes in a nearby garden after he staggered from the nursing home with his clothes on fire.

He was badly burned and it was four months before he could be questioned by police in hospital.

Hayes, of Cranbrook Close, Bolton, admitted a charge of arson when he appeared before Bolton Crown Court.

His suspension from the nursing home followed an investigation by managers into two incidents, including one in which he was said to have thrown a chair at a wall. On the day of the fire, Hayes rang his ex-wife and told her he was going to "torch a few cars" before calling again to say he was going to "do" the care home.

Detectives said it was a miracle that none of the 58 elderly residents was killed in the blaze, They said quick-thinking staff and firefighters averted tragedy by carrying pensioners to safety.

A 78-year-old man and two women, aged 94 and 62, were taken to hospital after inhaling smoke. The 94-year-old woman died three weeks later but police ruled out a link with the fire.

Hayes was told by Judge Steven Everett that it was "very, very unlikely" he would avoid a prison term.

The judge adjourned sentencing to a date to be fixed and warned Hayes: "You have pleaded guilty to a very serious matter.

"Custody, and not just a short sentence of custody, generally follows this type of case."

Det Insp Paul Hitchen of Bolton CID said: "A significant number of those residents were mentally and physically impaired.

"They simply could not have been more vulnerable.

"The professionalism of Bolton fire officers and the response of staff at the home unquestionably averted a tragedy."