A GREAT grandmother set herself alight in a nursing home after dropping her cigarette in her chair, an inquest heard yesterday.

Madge Carter, 83, died in hospital after suffering severe burns when her chair caught fire on November 11, last year.

Mrs Carter, a resident at Stoneleigh Nursing and Residential Home, in Annfield Plain, Stanley, County Durham, was not allowed to smoke without staff supervision, but on that night she was alone.

An inquiry into her death at County Hall in Durham heard how workers raced to the lounge where Mrs Carter was sitting, after being alerted by the smoke alarms. They found smoke and flames engulfing her chair and the surrounding carpet.

They threw wet towels around her and firefighters were called, but she died the following morning in hospital.

The inquiry failed to establish where the cigarette came from and its origins remain a mystery to Mrs Carter's family and staff.

At the time of the incident, none of the care workers was aware she was smoking, as none of them had given her a cigarette.

The staff kept all cigarettes and lighters belonging to residents.

Helen Christelow, who works night shifts in the home, said there had been mornings when she found Mrs Carter smoking cigarettes given to her by another resident.

She told the inquest: "She would be smoking in the morning before I got there, because I hadn't had time to go and get her one."

Detective Inspector Simon Orton, of Consett police station, said detectives conducted a thorough investigation into her death, but could not find any negligence or any conduct from the home or its staff that had contributed to her death.

North Durham Coroner Andrew Tweddle concluded that Mrs Carter's death was accidental.

He said: "We have a lady in her 80s who did not get a lot out of her life except she loved a cigarette.

"As the nursing home manageress established that this is a risk, you have to balance the needs of the individual against the needs of care and safety."