Hotel fire charges could be made

Three holidaymakers died in the blaze

Prosecutors are to decide whether anyone should be charged in connection with a fire at a hotel in Cornwall in which three people died.

A file in to the Penhallow blaze in Newquay has been completed and passed to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Holidaymakers Joan Harper, 80, from Stoke-on-Trent, Peter Hughes, 43, from Cheslyn Hay, Staffordshire, and his mother Monica, 86, all died.

Four people have been arrested and questioned.

Difficult case

About 120 firefighters fought the blaze and up to 90 people were forced to escape from the fire in August 2007.

Officers found it was started deliberately and a murder inquiry began.

It was considered the worst hotel fire Britain had seen for 30 years.

The fire destroyed much of the evidence, making it a difficult case to investigate.

At a meeting next month, senior detectives and lawyers will decide whether any charges should be brought in connection with the fire.