AN ELDERLY woman may have died after falling asleep in an armchair with a cigarette in her hand.
An inquest heard Emily Jones, aged 83, of Lewisham Park, was found dead at home on May 17 after being discovered on the floor, near a settee in her front room.
An armchair close by had been burned and the fire had penetrated through the floorboards underneath.
During the inquest, held at Southwark Coroner's Court, station officer John Crowley said: "We can only assume that it was started by a cigarette end, or some other smoking material."
Mrs Jones, who was born in Lewisham and was the widow of restaurateur, may have been trying to escape the fire when she collapsed.
Pathologist Dr Ian Hill gave the cause of her death as smoke inhalation and body burns.
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