The family of an 86 year old farmer from near Manaccan could have done nothing to prevent him burning to death after his trousers caught fire while he slept, an inquest has heard.

Denis Powell Williams, of Higher Tregonwell Farm, died on June 3 after falling asleep in front of his gas fire.

The hearing at Truro heard that Denis, who had limited mobility, probably woke up and tried to stand before collapsing to the floor in front of the heater.

Susan Williams, Denis’ daughter in law, who lives with her husband Malcolm in a bungalow 150 yards from the house and used to cook for him in the evenings, described how she had seen the fire when she went around to visit in the evening, following a long day working on the farm.

She said: “It started raining so I thought I would jump in the car and drive round. There’s a corner to go round, and I got to the gate at the bottom, I looked at the back of the house and all I could see was smoke billowing out the back door. I quickly drove into the drive and ran into the back.

“I tried shouting but there was nothing, just thick black smoke. I tried to go in but couldn’t get through the dining room.”

She said she went to the front door, but that was locked, “I looked in the sitting room window and all I could see was flames.”

She went back to look for Malcolm, shouting for him in the house and “screaming up the fields”, and dialled 999 before returning to Denis’ house, where she met Malcolm and Dean, a tenant who lived in a house between her and Denis, and who had a fire extinguisher.

Malcolm went into the house from the back, while Susan said she was screaming “open the front door.”

Malcolm said: “I ran back in and saw what I saw. I ran around the back. Dean was there with the fire extinguisher. I had to go back in with Dean.”

Andrew Barrett, from Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service, said: “The most likely cause is that Denis was sat in his armchair too close to his liquid propane gas fire.

“His trousers caught on fire and even though Denis was not mobile, it looks like his last act was to stand up from the chair with his trousers on fire before he collapsed forward just in front of the fire place. That’s where we found him.”

He said that it seems likely Denis fell asleep too close to the heat, and rather than the flames transferring to his trousers they would have just overheated until they combusted. Due to his collapsing into the fireplace, and with the material of his trousers on fire, the flames didn’t spread much further than Denis’ body.

Malcolm added that he was surprised at how in such a short time the TV had melted but he didn’t notice the heat, even though he had to crawl underneath the smoke.

Susan said she had seen Denis several times that day, including dropping off a pasty for lunch as she knew she would be working in the fields and unable to cook for him that evening.

She said: “He was fine at half six, we had a chat with him. His cousin Jenny phoned later than that, around 7pm or half past.”

Denis had lived at the house since he was born there, the day after his parents took over in 1927, and was still involved with the running of the farm.

His wife Daphne died nine months before him, and the couple left two children, Malcolm and June, five grandsons and two great grandchildren.

Malcolm and Susan said he was a well known farmer, known nationally in showing circles, who loved his Ayrshire cattle, and his cats, and used to play saxophone in the Manaccan band.

Malcolm said: “He was the sort of chap to want me to get on with it. His motto was to work hard and play hard.

He was an old fashioned Cornish farmer.”

Recording his verdict, assistant coroner Barrie van den Berg said: “Denis did not intend anything like this to happen. My conclusion is that this was an accident. A tragic accident.”