Tributes have been paid to a solicitor found dead after a fire at her Kent home.

The body of Helen Bishop - a 42-year-old mother-of-two - was discovered after the emergency services were called to Park Drive, Sittingbourne, at around 10.30am Wednesday.

The alarm was raised after Mrs Bishop’s boss visited the house after becoming concerned about her not showing up for work at High Street firm Christopher Harris & Co.

Next-door-neighbour Barbara Willis said: "She was a very nice neighbour and I liked her very much. It's very sad; a tragic accident. I couldn’t believe it.”

Although Mrs Bishop worked for Christopher Harris, she had also worked for several other solicitors in the town.

Barry Bond, senior partner at Jarmans in Bell Road, said: "Helen was a lovely Irish girl. She brought a lot of joy to a lot of people and had an infectious Irish humour."

Fire investigation officers and crime scene investigators will work together to determine the cause of the fire, which happened on the ground floor of the house.

Police are not treating the circumstances of her death as suspicious and a post-mortem examination is due to held next week.

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