A PENSIONER died after her skirt was set alight as she stoked a coal fire.

Two neighbours made a brave bid to save 90-year-old widow Emma Thompson after seeing flames inside the semi-detached house in Elm Road, Westhoughton.

But they were beaten back by the heat.

Police and firefighters were called and Mrs Thompson was pulled from the blaze by PC Jonathan Miles.

A Bolton inquest heard yesterday that PC Miles went into the house through a side kitchen door and found Mrs Thompson in the living room doorway, unable to move because one of her legs was trapped.

PC Miles freed her and dragged her into the front garden.

Mrs Thompson, a former factory worker, died at the Royal Bolton Hospital the following day. She had sustained 50 per cent burns, which were unsurvivable, the inquest was told.

Mrs Thompson was an Alzheimers sufferer and was alone in the house when her skirt caught fire on November 11 last year.

Her daughter, Joy Riley, who was living with her, had gone to a nearby shop minutes earlier.

Peter Holt, aged 21, was one of the neighbours who tried to rescue her from the blaze.

He told the inquest: "The front door was unlocked. I ran into the house but couldn't get through the flames.

"We kicked down the back door, but there was thick black smoke."

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service investigation officer, Geoff Ackroyd, said Mrs Thompson would have become disorientated after her clothes caught fire.

He said the fire would have spread through the house within a matter of seconds or minutes.

Mrs Thompson had lived at the house for 66 years.

Her husband, James, died in 1996 and her daughter later moved in to care for her as her health began to deteriorate.

The two had been watching television together on the day of the fire.

Mrs Riley said: "We usually went everywhere together. I loved her so much."

Recording a verdict of accidental death, deputy coroner Alan Walsh said: "It was a great tragedy for a lady of 90 to suffer such severe burns.

"I am grateful to those who tried to help Mrs Thompson. Their actions were of the utmost bravery."