THE body of tragic Anita Harris was unrecognisable by the time firefighters found it in a burnt out flat, a jury was told yesterday.

Firefighters from Westlea fire station were called to the flat in Frampton Close, Eastleaze, at about 8.20pm on September 22. When they arrived they saw smoke billowing from the first floor window.

In a statement read out in court firefighter Simon Owen said he heard a lady, thought to be her friend Julie Roberts, shouting “my sister’s in there” and saw a man, thought to be Larkin, sitting on the pavement.

Police had been unable to get into the flat because of the smoke so he and another officer went in using breathing apparatus and found 39-year-old Miss Harris’ body in the bedroom.

“She had received the worst burns to her face,” he said. “I could not tell she was female by looking at her.”

Fire investigator Paul Nicholson said he concluded the fire had been started on the bed in the bedroom by a naked flame. He ruled out an electrical fault, or a cigarette, because there were no traces of cigarette butts, but he conceded that there would have been no trace had it been a roll-up cigarette that caused the fire.

He estimated the temperature inside the flat at the height of the blaze to have been between 600-800 degrees Celsius.

It was the third day of the trial of Miss Harris’ former boyfriend, James Larkin, 32, who denies charges of manslaughter and arson with intent to endanger life.

Earlier in the week the court had been told that Larkin and Miss Harris were both alcoholics and had been drinking that day with her best friend, Julie Roberts, 43, who she called her “sister.”

After they returned to Larkin’s flat in Frampton Close the couple had an argument over her playing loud music and Larkin punched a hole in the glass of the front door.

Emergency care practitioner Matthew Gaisford, who was called to treat him, said there was tension in the flat but nothing to suggest things would get worse later on.

And PC Melanie Mellues, who also attended at that point, said things had calmed down by the time she left.

She said: “I spoke to Julie and asked if she was okay to stay there and make sure everything was okay. Everybody was calm and happy.”

But later on the argument continued and Miss Harris started packing to leave.

Larkin set light to underwear on a radiator and then allegedly wrapped himself in a duvet in the bedroom and set fire to it in an effort to make her stay.

Miss Harris and Miss Roberts got out of the flat but Miss Harris went back in to try and save him, it is believed. He escaped with burns.

The case continues