A husband whose estranged wife died in a fire he has admitted starting has told a jury he never meant to harm her.

Licensee Sarah Thrippleton Hall perished in the blaze at the Chevin Inn near Menston that was lit by Jason Hall on Good Friday.

Hall, 34, maintains he only lit a small fire on one of the doors and thought it would burn itself out. Instead, the fire quickly took hold and destroyed the stairs and hallway that led to living quarters above the pub, blocking Miss Thrippleton Hall's only means of escape.

Hall has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but not murder.

Giving evidence at his trial at Bradford Crown Court yesterday, Hall told the jury he never meant for the fire to cause the devastation it did. Hall told the court he had still deeply loved his wife and said he just wanted to make Miss Thrippleton Hall act quicker with regard to the legal dealings over the pub.

"I just wanted to cause some damage," he told the jury. "I didn't want to cause a lot of damage, just to make Sarah think, push them along with trying to sort everything out."

Hall then described to the court how he filled up his Zippo lighter with fuel before walking up to the pub in the early hours of the morning. He said that he sat on a wall and smoked a cigarette before walking round to the front of the pub.

He told the jury he then squeezed a small amount of fuel from his lighter on to the bottom of the door and set it alight before walking away.

He said: "I had no idea what I did could have led to the devastation that occurred. I never expected anything like this.

"As I looked back as I was walking down the road I never saw any fire, nothing to make me believe there was a fire. The thought never crossed my mind."

Hall said he first found out that Miss Thrippleton Hall had died when a friend phoned him the next morning and he said he was "devastated".

He told the court: "I just couldn't believe the little amount of lighter fuel I put down could have caused that much damaged and destruction."

The prosecution has alleged Hall picked the one door he knew would block his wife's route to safety and has further alleged he may have squirted lighter fuel through the letter box.

They say comments made to friends the day before the fire about burning the pub down were a declaration of intent.

Hall claims that they were off-the-cuff remarks.

The trial continues.