A MAN described to a jury today how he tried to force open the door of a derelict property after seeing flames engulfing the basement at about 4.30am.

Adrian Stanmore, an ex-firefighter and product controller of an Oxford dairy, ran to Redbridge Cottage when two of his milkmen told him they had spotted smoke coming from the building in Old Abingdon Road.

James Cox, 63, of no fixed abode, denies killing Sian Sanchez, 36, and Howard Blake, 51, by deliberately starting the blaze in January last year.

At Oxford Crown Court today, Mr Stanmore said: "From a small brown vent in the side of the building I could see smoke and heat issuing from the house. There was also a glow of fire down in the basement to the left of the front door and I could hear popping and wood burning."

Mr Stanmore called 999 and tried unsuccessfully to open the front door, although he said it would have been too dangerous to enter the building anyway. Fire crews were soon on the scene.

It was not until a man described by one firefighter as having a drunken manner and a dishevelled appearance arrived on the scene that anyone knew there were people inside.

Mr Stanmore said: "The only words I heard from this figure were 'There's somebody in there that means the world to me'."

CCTV footage showed Cox, a regular rough sleeper, in the area at the time of the fire, although his barrister pointed out that cameras did not point directly towards Redbridge Cottage.

The trial continues.