A MAN once arrested on suspicion of the manslaughter of a friend told an inquest yesterday how he battled to save him from a hostel fire.

Yesterday, Philip James Hawkins said heat and smoke stopped him rescuing Sean Anthony Barrett, aged 38, from the blaze at The Moors, in Station Road, Rogiet, on April 13.

Mr Hawkins, also 38, told the Argus that after the fire he was forced to move home with his young children after wrongly being branded a killer by locals, and that someone threw a breeze block through a window of his home.

Despite being initially arrested, Mr Hawkins was later told he would face no charges over Mr Barrett's death.

Police at the Newport Civic Centre inquest yesterday confirmed there was no suggestion of any criminal offences being committed in connection with the fire.

During the inquest, Mr Hawkins said: "Sean's door was shut but unlatched, and when I opened it I felt a heat against my body and I was engulfed in thick black smoke.

"I couldn't see an inch in front of my face."

Mr Hawkins tried to rescue Mr Barrett from his room but was forced back by the smoke, so he raised the alarm with other residents.

He said Mr Barrett drank a bottle of whisky hours before the fire.

David Scaysbrook, a forensic scientist, said it was likely Mr Barrett dropped a cigarette while drunk and it smouldered before setting light to the bed.

The taps were running in the bedsit, suggesting Mr Barrett tried to put out the fire before being overcome by smoke, the inquest heard.

Mr Scaysbrook said smoke detectors in the corridor did not go off as the door of Mr Barrett's room was well sealed. Mr Barrett died, he said, of smoke inhalation.

Gwent deputy coroner Wendy James said the cause of death was as a result of the fire and "acute alcohol toxicity".

Verdict: accidental death.