THREATS made to the Bolton Moat House hotel before the blaze which killed two people were just pranks between staff members, the BEN can reveal today.

Just hours after the blaze ripped through a third floor corridor sending smoke and flames billowing through the building, the Evening News exclusively revealed that threats had previously been made to the Higher Bridge Street hotel.

The BEN also reported that a mattress in the corridor is thought to have been set alight, sparking the blaze which is still being treated as suspicious.

Today police established that the threats to the hotel were simply practical jokes between hotel employees and are not believed to be connected in any way to the fire.

A police spokesman said: "At this stage inquiries into the alleged making of threats have come to nothing."

A detailed on-site search of the corridor by fire investigation officers, forensic experts and police Scenes of Crime Officers was due to be completed today.

Any material recovered from the site of the fire -- confined to a 20 metre stretch of corridor -- will be taken to forensic labs at Chorley for further investigation to see if further clues to the blaze can be found.

Last night relatives of the two people killed in the blaze on Tuesday -- a married couple from Blackpool who were both in their 70s -- travelled down from Scotland for an official identification of the bodies.

Police have still not released details of the two victims. Post mortem exmainations were completed yesterday by a Home Office pathologist. THE cost of the Moat House Hotel fire has still not be established, but a representative from the owners visited the site yesterday.

A spokesman from the Essex-based owners Queens Moat Houses, which is the UK's third largest hotel group, confirmed the company's property director was at the Higher Bridge Street hotel to assess the extent of the damage caused by the huge fire.

It could still be some time before the luxury hotel re-opens.