A LIFE-LONG public servant died from burns he sustained while cooking himself lunch at his home in Taunton, an inquest has heard.

West Somerset Coroner Michael Rose heard how Albert Edward Sherlow, 83, was making lunch at his Gaunton Close house on May 14, 2007, at about 3.30pm.

Giving evidence at the hearing, fire investigator Robert Ferguson, of Taunton Fire Station, said Mr Sherlow's polyester tie had probably been ignited by a gas flame creeping up the side of pan on the hob.

Mr Sherlow's shirt had also caught fire and Mr Ferguson had doused the flames with a tablecloth.

It is then thought he called an ambulance and the fire brigade, before silencing the smoke alarm in his house by removing the batteries and attempting to clear up the burnt debris with a broom.

The flames left Mr Sherlow with 25% burns to his body and he was taken to Musgrove Park Hospital and then a specialist unit at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, where he died on May 20.

Mr Sherlow began his working life as a telegram boy before joining the Royal Navy. He later worked for the Ministry of Defence and then at the UK Hydrographic Office in Taunton, before he retired. He had been a widower, living on his own, for two years.

His son told the inquest Mr Sherlow always wore a shirt and tie whether he was sitting in the house or mowing the lawn'.

Mr Rose said Mr Sherlow had died as a result of the burns and recorded a verdict of accidental death.

The inquest was heard on November 22.