A RECLUSIVE pensioner died from smoke inhalation after her

enormous collection of cuddly toys caught fire.

Retired housekeeper Evelyn Morris, 76, spent almost all her time in the lounge of her home

in Buckingham Road, Worthing.

Her collection of toys filled most of the room and her nephew Philip Morris, of Bolney Avenue, Peacehaven, had warned her against letting them get too near an open fire.

He told a Worthing inquest: "She collected toys and ornaments. The room was full of them. She spent all her time there because she had trouble getting upstairs with her bad back.

"As recently as two weeks before she died I had to pull the cuddly toys away from the fire. They were red hot.

"I told her off about it. She said I wasn't her father and shouldn't tell her off."

He added: "She had so many toys they started

spilling off the settee. I told her to move them but to no avail.

"I went back again and there were actually toys in the hearth. I found them very close to the fire and very hot. Some of them were smouldering and were scorched."

But Miss Morris ignored her nephew's warning and offers of help from social services.

On November 19 the fire brigade was called to her house when neighbours noticed smoke.

Worthing firefighter Gary Hall said: "As we went in the smoke was thick and visibility was low. We began to search the room but couldn't enter properly because it was so full of toys."

They eventually found Miss Morris but

emergency resuscitation failed.

A post mortem found she had died from smoke inhalation.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, West Sussex coroner Roger Stone said: "She was a fiercely independent lady.

"The cause of the fire seems to be that the soft toys or something similar caught fire."

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