Gino Scutti, 65, of Lake Albert, has pleaded guilty to malicious damage of property by fire and publishing false, misleading information to obtain advantage over a fire which ripped through the Carrathool Family Hotel in September 2010.

A charge of dishonestly for gain damage property by fire was withdrawn by the police prosecution. 

Scutti originally pleaded not guilty to the charges, with the matter scheduled to be defended in an eight-day trial beginning on February 11. 

It was on September 22, 2010 firefighters were called to the 126-year-old hotel when a neighbour saw the roof ablaze.

While the neighbour tried to do what they could with a handheld garden hose, it took several Rural Fire Service brigades and Fire and Rescue NSW the next 18 hours to extinguish the blaze.

But by the time they arrived at the scene there was little they could do to salvage the hotel. 

The news of the blaze travelled quickly throughout town, gutting residents who relied on the hotel as their social hub. 

Earlier in the year the Carrathool post office was downgraded and the local shop closed, making the pub the last place open for business in the village. 

With the closest town being Hay, some 50km to the west, the pub was the lifeline of the community. 

It has since been rebuilt. 

Griffith police established Strike Force Alvi to investigate the suspicious circumstances surrounding the fire and after a 17-month investigation arrested Scutti at his Lake Albert home in February 2012. 

He will be sentenced in Wagga Local Court on March 27.