A FORMER bank manager, accused of setting his house on fire while his family slept, seemed dazed and confused when neighbours made frantic attempts to rescue him from the flames, a court was told.

Glenn Hunt initially seemed reluctant to leave the living room which was filling with smoke according to neighbour Nicholas Kelly.

But Mr Kelly said he thought that was because there were sharp shards of glass where the window had been smashed by his son and neighbours in a bid to rescue him.

Another neighbour in Ridgemont Close, Horwich, Paul Grange said he banged on the living room window of the four bedroom detached Georgian style house to rouse Hunt and heard him say "What?" as though he had just woken up.

The family had been woken by Hunt's wife Jennifer, who had just attended a fire training course, who told the children to cover the cracks in the doors to prevent smoke getting into their rooms.

Hunt's son Gareth had smashed his bedroom window, threw his mattress onto the lawn and jumped out wearing just his underwear to raise the alarm with neighbours.

Glenn Hunt, a financial advisor who had £30,000 worth of debts he hadn't told his wife about, was eventually rescued by his teenage son and neighbours who smashed windows in the living room and dragged him out.

But when senior fire officers sifted through the remains of the ground floor they noticed petrol had been used to start the fire from inside the house and alerted the police. Fire officer Eric Hall, of Wigan Fire Station, said: "My conclusion was that it was a malicious ignition." He said he believed accelerator could not have been squirted through the front door as the letter box had brushes which would have made it "virtually impossible" to ignite it.

Forensic scientist Stephen Andrews said he found petrol residue on samples of carpet from inside the Hunts' house.

Mr Andrews said: "My overall conclusion is that there is extremely strong evidence petrol was used as an accelerant in the hallway and the dining room areas of this house."

Hunt, aged 46, formerly of Ridgemont Close, Horwich, appeared at Bolton Crown Court on the second day of his trial and denied committing arson with intent to endanger life and an alternative charge of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered on May 24 last year.

Neighbours described being woken by shouting and screaming from the house and by Hunt's teenage son Gareth who was banging on the doors of all the houses in the select cul-de-sac.

Both Mr Kelly, his wife Sandra, and Mr Grange managed to get ladders to the bedroom windows and helped Mrs Hunt and daughter Naomi to climb to safety. Mr Hunt was eventually dragged out after the windows had been smashed from the outside to make a hole big enough for Hunt to be dragged through.

Mrs Hunt, a primary school head-teacher, had earlier told the court that she woke in the middle of the night to find the hall full of choking smoke.

Proceeding