A BACKPACKER regarded as a "potential suspect" in a house fire at Red Cliffs in which a resident was killed tried to hide a can of fuel before the blaze fearing what the man now accused of murder might do with it, a court has heard.

The trial of David Cartledge this week heard that a second man, who had been socialising with the accused on the night of the blaze in February 2023, was also arrested in relation to the death of