A man has admitted setting fire to the Ty Belgrave House hotel on Aberystwyth seafront and killing a guest.
Damion Harris, 31, had been due to go on trial at Swansea Crown Court today accused of arson and murder.
But after lengthy backstage discussions between barristers for the prosecution and defence a fresh set of charges were put to Harris, of Llwyn Onn, Llanbadarn Fawr.
Harris then admitted the manslaughter of Juozas Tunaitis and arson while being reckless as to whether life and property would be destroyed.
He also admitted causing grievous bodily harm to Richard Simnett, another guest who was injured escaping the blaze on 25 July last year.
Michael Jones, prosecuting, told the court the pleas were acceptable and the murder charge would not be proceeded with.
"These charges reflect his criminality that evening," he said.
Nadine Radford, the barrister representing Harris, said he was in a highly agitated state and it was proving difficult to take instructions from him.
"He knows he is going to prison," she added.
Judge Paul Thomas said he would give the defence until Tuesday to settle on their position.
The relevance, said the judge, was that he would have to decide upon Harris’s sentence based on either the version of events put forward by the prosecution or the defence.
If they could not agree then he would have to decide the matter after hearing the evidence.
Judge Thomas said he would also have to decide whether Harris was a dangerous offender as defined by law.
What is now a sentencing hearing and not a trial was set to continue on Tuesday.