A fruit picker has denied starting a fire that killed 15 travellers at an Australian hostel, including a man from Sussex.

Adam Rowland, 19, of Sedlescombe Road North, St Leonards, was killed at the Palace Backpackers' Hostel in Childers, 190 miles north of Brisbane, on June 23 2000, along with six other Britons.

Martin Corkhill, 23, of Springfield Road, Hastings, and his girlfriend, Lisa Duffy, survived the blaze.

Prosecutor David Meredith told jurors at Brisbane Supreme Court that Robert Long, 38, knew the fire was likely to cause deaths.

Long, a homeless fruit picker who had been living at the hostel for two months, denies two charges of murder and one of arson.

Mr Meredith said: "When he lit the fire he intended to kill a person or persons unknown. Long lit the fire that burned down the Palace hostel. That amounts to murder.

"He had expressed antagonism before the fire to one person in particular, and had expressed antagonism to backpackers in general."

To shorten the trial, prosecutors have charged Long only with the murders of 27-year-old twins Kelly and Stacey Slarke, from Western Australia.

But they have reserved the right to bring additional charges in the other deaths if they fail to prove the twins were murdered.

The judge has warned jurors not to treat Long, an itinerant fruit picker, as a scapegoat.

Some European witnesses in the trial are expected to give evidence via videoconferencing.

Childers, a farming community of 1,500 people, is popular with backpackers who pick fruit and vegetables to finance their travels.

The Palace Hostel was bulldozed last week and there are now plans for a £260,000 monument and tourist centre on the site.