A man was found dying clutching a box of matches in his hand after fire from candles and a gas heater ripped through his cold home.
Geoffrey Raven was killed when the large blaze spread through the Bootle property as his partner was out buying shopping.
Despite owning the whole property, the 67-year-old lived in just one bedroom with his longstanding partner, in a house without electricity.
Mr Raven, a retired croupier, decided not to join his partner on the visit to the shops, an inquest in to his death heard.
But his partner returned to the home to Antonio Street, where he also lived, three hours later, to find fire crews battling the serious fire which had engulfed the house.
The blaze had started in the bedroom in the early evening of March 18, and the victim was found by crews holding a box of matches in his hand.
Mr Raven, originally from London, had been rushed to Aintree Hospital in an ambulance where he arrived in cardiac arrest.
He died 12 minutes later.
Investigations have discovered a neighbour heard somebody shouting and banging from the home at about 5.30pm, the time the fire started to take hold.
Twenty minutes later, he was startled by another noise which sounded like part of a roof or walls collapsing.
The couple were described as hoarders, Sefton Coroner's Court was told.
Mr Raven, who had been in a relationship for 30 years, was described as being in "good health" by his partner.
But he did have a number of conditions including arthritis, carpel tunnel syndrome and post traumatic amnesia following a bleed on the brain.
A neighbour forced entry to the home, and later the back door was pushed in so firefighters could make their way inside.
Clair Sajewicz, coroner's officer for Sefton, told the hearing: "Police are not treating the death as suspicious and are treating this as a tragic accident.
"The Merseyside Fire and Rescue investigator has completed an interim fire report completing that the fire is accidental and [due to] inappropriate use of candles and calor gas heating."
The evidence was heard by Senior Coroner Julie Goulding.
At the time of the tragedy, one neighbour told the ECHO: "The house was engulfed in smoke very quickly.
“I heard two men went into the house to see if there was anyone there, but there was too much smoke to see.
“I came out along with all the other neighbours to see what was going on.
“You could see the flames in the top window."
Another said: "We never saw anyone come out or go in.
“It’s terribly sad.”
