An elderly lady close who was just weeks away from celebrating her 100th birthday and a card from the King died after her plastic commode caught on fire overnight. 

A coroner heard that Elsie Roy passed away after breathing in the smoke caused when the commode was too close to a heater and melted towels.

The tragic incident happened last December at her home in Tilehurst, Reading. 

Elsie was last seen alive on a December evening by her carer who put her to bed before leaving her home.

The next day, another carer arrived at Elsie's home for the morning shift - only to find the inside of the house covered in black soot and smelling of burned plastic, with Elsie having sadly died in her bed from smoke inhalation.

A later investigation revealed the OAP's commode, which had a plastic bowl and towels thrown on top of it, had been left too close to a portable gas heater in the house's corridor - causing the towels and the toilet itself to catch on fire during the night.

Elsie, who died on December 15, 2022, would have celebrated her 100th birthday just a month later, on January 10, 2023.

Senior Coroner for Berkshire Heidi Connor told the inquest in Reading: "Elsie Roe was a bed-bound 99-year-old lady with significant hearing loss. She received care at home.

"The last attendance by a carer finished at 20:19hrs on  December 14, 2022.

"A commode with towels on the back was left close to a gas heater, mounted on the wall in the hall of her house.

"The towels ignited and led to a smouldering fire, which caused extensive soot and smoke within the property.

"This led to Elsie’s death by smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning.

"She was found deceased at her address in Tilehurst, Reading, on December 15, 2022."

During the inquest carer Jane Wiggins fought back tears as she recalled the morning she discovered Elsie unresponsive in her bed, having died overnight from inhaling the thick smoke produced by her burning commode.

"When I arrived at the house, the smoke alarm was going off.

"I put the key in and opened the door - it was completely black.

"Everything was black.

"It smelled of plastic and like something had been burning.

"I tried to put the light on but it didn't work, so I put my hand out to where I thought the commode was and pulled it away from the heater."

Ms Wiggins then described going "straight to Elsie", who slept in a bedroom at the end of the corridor - but that she has sadly died earlier during the night.

A post-mortem examination found that Elsie died of carbon monoxide poisoning due to smoke inhalation.

The inquest heard that Elsie's family had sent emails to the carers warning that the commode was a fire risk and asking for it to be kept away from the gas heater they had put in the hallway.

The heater was left on low at all times as Elsie's house on Beverley Road , did not have central heating and carers did not tamper with it, the inquest was told.

Jacqueline Evans, the carer who last attended Elsie's home on the evening of December 14, told the coroner she was "certain" she had not left the commode close to the gas heater before leaving Elsie's home, and "cannot explain" how the toilet was found in the position it was found in following the fire.

Ms Evans said: "I supported Elsie with putting her to bed and on the night of December 14, it was a very routine visit.

"It is my recollection that the towels were not close to the heater when I left the property.

"There was about a metre between the heater and the back of the commode."

The coroner told the inquest Elsie had also been unable to call for help as the alarm pendant she had on during the day was taken from her at night and put out of her reach.

"So for half the time at night-time, Elsie did not have this alarm", Mrs Connor noted during the inquest.

The decision to take the alarm pendant away from Elsie before bed followed a request made by the family, who said Elsie would call repeatedly during the night using the pendant.

Carers told the coroner the logic behind this decision was that Elsie was "safe in bed" and would not need her pendant during the night.

Mrs Connor questioned the reasoning behind that decision, saying: "But had someone broken in the house, or had she started to feel medically unwell, would you still say she was safe in bed?"

Ms Wiggins eventually told the coroner: "They (cared-for OAPs) have to have the alarm pendant at all times - you never know what is going to happen."

Closing the inquest hearing, Mrs Connor ruled Elsie's death was an accident "contributed to by the position of a commode and towels left close to a heater."

Elsie's family described her as a woman who had been remarkably well in her old age and that they had been looking forward to celebrating her 100th birthday.