FIREFIGHTERS alerted by neighbours who heard a smoke alarm discovered the body of a woman pensioner when they forced their way into her Blackburn home.

The dead woman, Bertha Slater, 87, was on the bedroom floor in her flat in Westwood Road.

Inspector Steve Haworth from Blackburn Police said: "We are not treating this as a suspicious death. We are satisfied that the lady has fallen over and died whilst she was cooking."

A burnt piece of toast set off the smoke alarm at the home of the woman. .

Firefighters climbed to a first floor window and broke down the front door when they spotted the woman collapsed by a bed.

A spokesman for Blackburn Fire Station said: "We attempted to resuscitate her but it was hopeless."

He added: "It was only a minor fire and the damage was negligible. The kitchen was barely filled with smoke and this didn't spread to the rest of the property."

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