Detectives were investigating today after a woman was found dead in a fire-ravaged room of her Bradford home.

The woman's body was recovered from an upstairs bedroom of the end of terrace property in Daisy Hill Lane, Bradford, shortly after 9.24 last night.

The blaze, which was confined to a small section of the room, is being treated as suspicious by fire service investigators. It is not clear what caused the woman's death and a post mortem examination has been arranged.

Firefighters had been called to the scene by a passerby and had to break open the front door to gain entry.

The woman - who has not been named but is thought to be a teacher - was discovered in a pile of burning items thought to be the contents of a wardrobe engulfed by the fire.

Fairweather Green Station Commander Neil Butterworth said the alarm was raised by a man who noticed smoke coming from the top of the house and a glow from the bedroom. After calling 999, the man returned to the scene by which time flames were coming from the window.

"Firefighters broke down the door and went upstairs. They found the body among items in the room and the woman was pronounced dead at the scene," he said.

Initially, it was thought that the house was derelict as guttering which had fallen from the front of the property had remained there for two weeks, said Mr Butterworth.

A small window at the back of the property was found to be broken.

Burns to the woman's body had made identification difficult, Mr Butterworth added.

A lone policeman stood outside the cordoned-off house this morning as investigators prepared to scour the charred scene.

The cracked and blackened windows were the only clue to the tragic fire.

Neighbour Jane Stephenson who lives opposite, said: "I heard a big bang and lots of voices outside about 9.30pm. I looked out of the window and there were fire engines and ambulances all over the place.

"You could see inside the house that it was all red like there were flames inside the bedroom and the bathroom and the windows were starting to crack.

"After a while there were policemen going in dressed in their forensic suits but I didn't see them bring a body out.

"I don't know who the woman was because people tend to keep themselves to themselves around here but I think she was in her 30s and a teacher.

"There was a lot of noise at the time and it was quite scary."

The woman was last seen at about 6.30pm when she asked to use a neighbour's telephone. She had returned to her home around 30 minutes earlier.

Police and fire investigators were set to return to the scene today in a bid to try to deduce how the blaze began.

A police spokesman said: "We are investigating the matter. We are keeping an open mind. Officers were visiting the scene today."

Plumber Alan Dakin, who works opposite, said that the woman kept herself to herself.

He said: "She was a bit of a loner type, nobody seemed to know her.

"She came in here yesterday to use the phone because hers was out of order but that was the only time we ever really spoke to her.

"She was a bit of an eccentric kind of character and she seemed to mostly live upstairs.

"I think she was a teacher but she didn't seem to be working at the moment."

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