A FLY zapper is believed to have started the fire which devastated Crathorne Hall Hotel earlier this month.

Fire investigators said the electric fly killer in the east wing attic of the hotel is the most likely cause of the blaze.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue said: "Following investigations into the cause of the Crathorne we consider the most probable cause of the fire to be an electric fly killer/insecutor in the roof space of the east wing of the hotel.

"Whilst other possible causes cannot be fully eliminated we are confident that the cause of fire was accidental."

The fire destroyed the east wing of the Grade II-listed hotel at Crathorne, near Yarm, on Wednesday, October 1.

Alan Bell, station manager at North Yorkshire fire brigade, who led the investigation, said: "The most probable cause is an electric fly killer that was hanging in the loft space.

"A number of flies have been flying into it and the smouldering flies have landed on combustible material and that's started the fire. We're reasonably confident that is the cause although we can't rule out other sources such as overheating lighting for example."

The electric fly killers were put up to try to reduce the amount of flies which were coming into the hotel bedrooms from neighbouring farmland and the nearby river. The loft space was understood to have housed Christmas decorations.

About 100 firefighters tackled the fire, which destroyed 16 bedrooms, the hotel's kitchen, some meeting rooms and some staff areas were ruined, although no-one was injured.

Crathorne Hall, which is owned by the Hand Picked Hotels group, is expected to reopen on November 10.

A spokesman for Hand Picked Hotels said: "“We are still waiting for a full report into the cause of the fire from both the North Yorkshire Fire Service and our insurance investigators."