A YOUNG mother-of-three died after suffering 80 per cent burns to her body during an accident which left her engulfed in flames, a coroner has decided.

Nusarat Iqbal, 24, was said to have been cooking food or drink on the gas stove at the family's flat in Plane Street, Blackburn, when part of her clothing caught fire.

The inquest was dramatically halted earlier this year by the then coroner for Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Andre Rebello who asked police to take a second look into the case after receiving a report from one of Lancashire's top fire officers.

Mr John Williamson, the assistant chief fire officer for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, had concluded following an investigation and two experiments that the victim's baggy Asian clothing could have been deliberately ignited. He said she may have intentionally set fire to herself or it had happened accidentally.

Nusarat's husband Ghulam Saqir Iqbal, who owns an Indian takeaway in Whalley New Road, then made a second statement to police under caution which was read out at the resumed inquest.

He said that a short time after he arrived home from work in the early hours of August 14, 1998 his wife went to cook him a meal and warm milk for the children.

He later heard screaming but stayed in the bedroom, dismissing it as one of the children and assuming that Nusarat would deal with it. She then appeared at the door engulfed in flames and shouted at him to cover her with a quilt. He pushed her into the bathroom and eventually put out the flames using dirty water from a washing up bowl in the kitchen.

Mr Iqbal telephoned his brother, Mohammed, who lives in nearby Pleck Farm, to tell him about the incident and went on to dress his wife.

When his brother and sister-in-law, Tahira, arrived, an ambulance was called and Nusarat was taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary and later transferred to Withington Hospital burns unit, where she died a week later.

Nusarat died from multiple organ failure and bronchial pneumonia brought on by 80 per cent burns to a large part of her body.

Deputy coroner for Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley, Michael Singleton, said: "I must bear in mind that there are troubling features to this case.

"There are some questions that have not been satisfactorily answered and it is unfortunate that a full investigation was not carried out immediately after the fire. On the evidence available and balance of probabilities I am recording a verdict of accidental death."

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