A CORONER has expressed surprise that all children's nightwear is not flame resistant.

Eric Armstrong said he had "assumed that it was" and that "it seemed a bit odd" that it wasn't.

He was speaking to The Northern Echo after an inquest into the death of a pensioner whose nightwear set alight.

Edith Goodall, 71, from Blyth, Northumberland, died from shock brought about by severe burns to her head, face, neck, stomach and leg. Her nightclothes burned with "considerable fierceness", said Mr Armstrong.

It is believed Mrs Goodall was trying to light a cigarette from a gas cooker on March 5 when her nightdress caught fire. Her husband, Jack, 73, tried to put the flames out - putting his dressing gown on his wife before throwing buckets of water over her to put the flames out.

* The Northern Echo launched its Protect Our Children campaign after a toddler from North Yorkshire was badly burned when his pyjamas set alight.

Our investigations showed that most children's pyjamas will burn to almost nothing in less than a minute.