A fruit picker who allegedly started a fire at a Australian hostel that killed 15 travellers, including an Irish girl, had ‘‘expressed antagonism to backpackers in general’’ before the blaze, a prosecutor said today.

A homeless fruit picker today pleaded not guilty to murder and arson charges linked to a devastating blaze that ripped through an Australian backpackers’ hostel, killing 15 tourists nearly two years ago.

A 38-year-old drifter accused of setting fire to the Australian backpackers’ hostel in which Limerick girl Julie O'Keeffe perished, is due to go on trial on Monday.

The murder trial of the man accused of starting a fire at an Australian backpacker hostel that killed 15 young travellers, including Limerick woman Julie O'Keeffe, has been postponed to February 18.

The man accused of starting a fatal fire at an Australian youth hostel will face trial in January, a court has ruled.

The trial of a fruit picker accused of deliberately starting a fire in Australian backpackers hostel which killed 15 travellers, including six Britons, has been postponed.

A fruit picker accused of starting the hostel fire that killed 15 young backpackers confessed to the crime, claims an Australian police officer.

A fire alarm at a backpackers' hostel had been switched off the night as flames swept through the building, killing 15 young travellers, a court has been told.

A survivor of last year's Australian hostel fire which killed 15 young backpackers has told a court that he saw a man resembling the suspect near a burning rubbish bin shortly before the blaze.

Lawyers for the drifter accused of murder and arson following the Australian hostel fire that killed 15 young backpackers say he allegedly confessed to police that he started the blaze.

A British tourist has told a court that the man accused of starting the Australian hostel fire asked her to leave open a fire escape so he could gain access on the night of the tragedy.