A man tried to tackle a fire, which later killed two Hampshire firemen, by throwing a large bottle of Dr Pepper over it, an inquest heard.

Karl Hoffman told a jury how he was sat in his lounge in Shirley Towers, Southampton, when he smelt burning but thought it was coming from outside.

He and wife Kirsty failed to realise for some time that curtains, which had been hitched up on top of a lamp, were smoking.

They later caught fire and the blaze spread through flat 72. Firefighters Alan Bannon, 38, and James Shears, 35, both died trying to put it out.

The inquest was hearing evidence from Hoffman, who was handcuffed and flanked by prison officials and police having been brought from prison where he is currently serving a jail term.

He told jurors how he had placed the curtain in the up light earlier in the day of Tuesday April 6, 2010, after vacuuming and forgot to remove it again. The light was later turned on by his pregnant wife Kirsty while the pair sat eating their dinner and watching tv.

Asked by coroner Keith Wiseman why he hadn't taken the curtain down Hoffman said: "it went out of my mind completely. I've got ADHD."

Asked about the moment he realised the curtains were smoking, he added: "the smoke was coming from inside the curtain. I brought it down to try and put it out."

Mr wiseman said:" There came a stage when there was a flame" asking Hoffman what he did next.

He replied:" there was a large full bottle of dr Pepper. I chucked it over. It weren't doing nothing, just getting worse. It was spreading up. There was smoke. I could hardly breathe."

Proceeding.