THE death of a toddler in a house fire was a tragic accident, an inquest has heard.

Rosie Prior was just 15-months-old when she became trapped by a fire which ripped through her family's terraced house on a Maidstone housing estate last June.

Her mother Nicky Reader, nee Prior, had gone out the back door of the house in Bell Road, Park Wood, to call partner Gareth Reader when the fire started.

Despite desperate attempts by neighbours and family to save her it was to no avail.

Rosie's twin brothers Derek and Hacklin, now four, managed to escape the blaze, which happened around lunchtime on June 11.

Older brothers Stephen, five, and James, eight, were at school.

The coroner ruled Rosie died of smoke inhalation and said she would quickly have become unconscious from the fumes.

The cause of the fire was unascertained but it started in the front room and an expert said it was likely to have been a naked flame. A candle had been lit earlier but extinguished two hours before.

Speaking on the six month anniversary of her daughter’s death Mrs Reader, 27, said: "We just take each days as it comes, we’re trying to give the kids as much of a normal life as possible."