PAUL Benns, who was trying to kill himself when he blew up a room in a Chippenham hotel, is hoping to escape a prison term.

Benns suffered 40 per cent burns in his failed suicide bid at The Pines Hotel on Marshfield Road in November last year.

The hotel's 22 occupants had to be evacuated from the premises and the road outside closed following the blast.

Firefighters using breathing apparatus put out the blaze.

The 42 year-old, who has admitted arson with intent to endanger life or being reckless as to whether life was endangered, still has mental health problems and is hoping to avoid a prison term.

At a hearing at Swindon Crown Court, Kate Brunner, defending, asked for the case to be adjourned to find her client accommodation so he could be given the option of a community sentence.

She said that people from the Stoneham Project in Trowbridge would visit Benns in prison, where he has been on remand since January, to assess his suitability for its support scheme.

Miss Brunner said she hoped he could then be sentenced to a probation order with a condition that he attends psychiatric treatment as directed.

The court was told that Benns was taken to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol following the blast and was first remanded in custody when he appeared before magistrates on January 17.

Last month he pleaded guilty to the charge and was remanded in custody so reports could be compiled.

Residents in neighbouring rooms at the hotel told of a loud blast coming from Benns' room followed by screams at 9.30pm on November 7 last year.

Ted Whitlock, 45, whose room was along the corridor said he found Benns badly burned and hunched in a ball outside the room.

"I opened the door of my room and saw Paul outside his room saying 'help me, help me,'" he said shortly after the incident.

Hotel manager Kewl Rama was alerted to the blaze in Benns' room by smoke detectors and put out the fire with a blanket before closing the door.

"When I arrived I saw Paul sitting in a ball saying 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry,'" he said.

At the time of the blast, divisional fire officer John Drew said: "I'm almost certain it was a fire caused by lighter fuel.

"There were a number of lighter fuel cans in there.

"Like most lighters, whether gas or petroleum, there's petrol fumes and in the right concentration they're flammable."

Recorder Tom Lamb QC agreed to put the case off for two weeks.