CORNISH Bard and 'Post' correspondent Miss Joan Rendell, MBE, died in a blaze at her bungalow home, an inquest heard.

Miss Rendell, 89, who was known to be suffering from leuk­aemia, died trapped in the fire at her Tremarsh, Werrington bungalow home on May 4, 2010.

Miss Rendell was a Cornish historian, writer and matchbox and corn dolly collector. She served as the Werrington correspondent of the Cornish & Devon Post Series for 60 years.

Prior to the inquest at Truro, it was known that her remains were badly burned.

Local people — as reported in the 'Post' — became increasingly puzzled and saddened by the long delay between Miss Rendell's death and further progress in determining the cause of the fire and positively identifying the remains as Miss Rendell's.

Police faced major problems in formally identifying her body, But, eventually, DNA techniques allowed them to be reasonably certain.

For the full report, and a round up of the area news and sport, please see this week's edition of the 'Post'.