A FIRE which killed a “wonderful” 81-year-old woman in her home near Abermagwr was caused by her “careless” smoking habits, an inquest has found.

Phillis Marianne Taylor, known as Marianne to her friends, died on Wednesday, 11 January, after a fire at Cwmnewidion Isaf, an old farm and stables near Cnwch Coch, where Ms Taylor had lived for 35 years.

An inquest heard last week that Caitlin Morse, a close friend and neighbour who kept horses in Ms Taylor’s stables, made “brave” attempts to rescue Ms Taylor, who was bed-bound due to back problems, after noticing smoke coming from her house at around 10.30am.

The coroner, Peter Brunton, said that Ms Taylor, who lived alone with her dog, probably died “prior to the effects of heat” from the fire.

Ms Taylor, who was described as an “independent” woman, had spent three weeks at Tregerddan Care Home, Bow Street, before Christmas, but had returned to her home “with a new lease of life”, and resisted the help of social services.

The inquest, held in Aberystwyth on Wednesday, was told that Ms Taylor had a “bad cigarette habit”, and would often leave cigarettes to burn themselves out near her bed, which was surrounded by newspapers, a lit candle and an electric heater on the eve of her death.

“She was quite a heavy smoker and sometimes not very careful about stubbing out her cigarettes,” said Diana Buirski, a friend of Ms Taylor’s who had visited her the night before her death.

“There were cigarettes on the electric heater which had not been put out, and there were cigarettes thrown on the floor.”

Asked whether she had warned Ms Taylor about her carelessness, Ms Buirski said: “It was a regular topic of conversation. She would say ‘yes, I know’, but wasn’t worried.”

Ms Morse told the inquest: “She came back [from Tregerddan] with a new lease of life, and she was really good for a few weeks.

“But it didn’t last that long and she started to suffer again in the two weeks prior to her death.”

Ms Morse described how she was alerted to the fire by smoke coming from Ms Taylor’s chimney when she did not use her open fire.

She said: “I opened the door, the dog ran out and a lot of smoke came out.

“I went into the house and ran down the corridor shouting for her. I got to her room, which was full of smoke, and I couldn’t get through to get her out of bed.

“I found something to put over my face and went back. I knew she was going to be in bed, but I couldn’t get through the smoke. The flames were coming from near her bed.”

Craig Turner, Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service’s business fire safety officer, said the fire was caused by “accidental ignition of combustible materials through careless handling of smoking materials”.

Returning a verdict of accidental death, Mr Brunton said: “These were very spirited and brave efforts to get in the house to reach Ms Taylor.

“Ms Buirski could do no more and had to retreat before the fire reached her.

“It is quite clear that, tragically, this was the proverbial accident waiting to happen.

“It is astonishing, given the amount of discarded cigarette butts, that something like this didn’t happen long ago.”

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