A British tourist accused of starting a devastating fire on Cape Town's landmark Table Mountain in which another British holidaymaker lost her life was today cleared of culpable homicide.

Anthony Cooper was accused of having thrown a burning cigarette into dry grass, causing a fire that raged for two days, destroying rare silverwood trees, causing homes to be evacuated and razing approximately 700 hectares of unique shrubland vegetation found only in the Western Cape.

When 500 firemen and three helicopters had finally brought the blaze under control, the body of another British tourist, Janet Chesworth, 66, was discovered.

He was acquitted on charges of culpable homicide and violating the National Forestry Act by Regional Magistrate Wilma van der Merwe in the Cape Town regional court.

Ms van der Merwe said that she did not believe Mr Cooper’s version of events, that the fire was cause by a small piece of sulphur that sparked off the Italian matches he used to light a cigarette while he was seated in his car.

He denied that he had been smoking outside the vehicle, where strong winds were blowing, insisting that a spark must have flown out of the window.

He told the court that he tried to put out the fire when he first noticed it outside his car, but it soon got out of hand. According to him he then tried in vain to attract the attention of two park wardens and decided to phone the fire department instead.

Despite her doubts about Cooper’s version Ms Van der Merwe said she was not convinced by the States’ two main witnesses either. They claimed to have seen Mr Cooper flick a burning cigarette butt out of the car window.

She said she believed the truth lay somewhere in between the two versions and therefore had no choice but to give Mr Cooper the benefit of the doubt.

Just because she doubted his version it did not legally mean that his story could not be true, and so she was forced to come to her conclusion, she said. After the hearing Mr Cooper said he would fly home to Britain after collecting his passport from the authorities.

Yesterday, Mr Cooper testified that he tried frantically to extinguish a flame on the mountain's slopes.

He said that after smelling smoke, he noticed a “tiny fire” near his car and quickly got out to extinguish it. “Instead of putting it out, I seemed to fuel it and it got bigger,” he said.

Nation Loliwe, prosecuting, earlier told the court: "The accused set the mountain on fire and as a consequence Ms Chesworth died."

However, he later conceded that the possibility could not be excluded that Ms Chesworth had died from other causes, before the fire started, although he said it was unlikely.

Speaking on his behalf after the acquittal Mr Cooper’s lawyer, Joe Weeber, said it was “indeed a joyous day” for his client.

“It has been almost two years that he had virtually been under house arrest since his passport was retained by the South African prosecuting authorities. Obviously we are not too pleased with the magistrate’s comment that she did not believe him, but we are delighted with the overall result.”

Mr Cooper, a salesman from Brighton who had been staying with his South African girlfriend and her parents for the past two years, was hoping to make contact with his family in the Britain to arrange for an air ticket to return home as soon as possible.

He has yet to give up smoking, his lawyer revealed, saying that he “does not seem keen to quit yet”.

Table Mountain is Cape Town’s most iconic landmark and, along with Robben Island where former president Nelson Mandela served his prison sentence under the apartheid government, the city’s premier tourist destination.

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