The sister of Peggy Duarte has spoken of her "terrible shock" at the death of the pensioner in a fire at her caravan home.

Winifred James was the only living relative of Miss Duarte, 78, who died in a mysterious blaze at the Dome caravan park in Lower Road, Hockley.

Police said it is unlikely the cause of the fire will ever be discovered because the intensity of the inferno destroyed almost everything in its path.

Mrs James, who is 82 and lives in Stoke with her husband who suffers from Parkinson's disease, learnt the tragic news when police came to visit her the morning after the tragedy on January 3.

A post mortem revealed Miss Duarte died from smoke inhalation. Police said they don't believe the fire was suspicious but a tragic accident.

The sisters were born in Westcliff and lived there until their parents split in the late 1920s.

For the rest of their childhood they were brought up in a children's home in Devonport, Plymouth.

Mrs James said: "We were so close, we grew up together and we even worked together for many years."

Miss Duarte's real name was Marguerite but she had been known as Peggy ever since she was a young girl, said Mrs James.

In the 1930s they both worked as domestic servants in Torquay but with the onset of the Second World War they moved to Windsor to work in the ATS.

After the war Winifred married and Peggy went to live with her father in Flemming Avenue, Leigh.

She worked for many years at the Ekco electronics factory in Priory Crescent, Southend.

After her father passed away in the 1950s she moved to the Dome caravan park. A funeral date for Miss Duarte has yet to be set.

Inferno - the blaze gutted the caravan. Left: Peggy Duarte

Main picture: ROB WELHAM

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