A 23-YEAR OLD man has been charged with two counts of murder following a fire at the Moat House hotel in which two pensioners died.

Lee Paul Carson, of Moses Gate, will appear before Bolton Magistrates on Tuesday morning.

The former night porter at the hotel is charged with the murders of 75-year-old William Robertson and his wife Margaret, aged 81.

The Blackpool couple were overcome by fumes while attempting to escape from a blaze in a third floor corridor of the hotel in Higher Bridge Street, Bolton, in April 2001.

The bodies of the former shipbuilder and his wife were found by firefighters searching the smoke-filled, seven-storey hotel after the alarm was raised just after 12.30am on April 24, 2001. The other 180 guests at the hotel had been evacuated.

The childless couple, who were originally from Glasgow, had been regular guests at the four-star establishment.

Post mortem examinations gave the cause of their deaths as smoke inhalation.

Forensic tests showed that that the temperatures in the blazing corridor were in the region of 800 degrees centigrade.

A man was arrested in June 2001 on suspicion of murder following the fire, but was later released without charge.

Detectives interviewed every guest who stayed in the hotel that night and members of the local community.

Extra detectives, criminal profilers and a psychologist were drafted in to join the two-year investigation.

The hotel, which was closed for three months after the attack, underwent a £2.7 million refurbishment after the fire. All 75 staff were relocated to other hotels during the renovation.