Carol Barnes

Carol Barnes died when her car exploded in her garage at Sweetbriar Cottage in Eastingham near Cirencester.

She had been killed instantly in the explosion which was thought to have occurred when she turned the ignition key of her car.

The car had been in a stone built garage at her home and the explosion wrecked the car and blew the garage doors off, and was heard a mile away.

CID from the county police headquarters at Cheltenham examined the shouldering remains and said that they were working on the theory that there had been an accumulation of gas built up in the garage that had ignited when the engine had started.

A pathologist from the South Western Forensic Science Laboratory said that he was called to the scene to examine the body and noted that the police had been under orders not to move Carol Barnes's body until after his examination.

Carol Barnes had moved into the cottage from Warwickshire about 18 months earlier and had worked at a china shop in Burford.

It was noted that the explosion was the second one of its kind in the West Midlands in four months, referring to the case of Peter Johnson-Smith.