POLICE are investigating the death of a 90-year-old woman who went under a Tube train at South Woodford Underground station on Saturday, August 7.

Laura Whiter, who lived in sheltered hosuing at Copsfield Court, Tavistock Road, South Woodford, was hit by a train at the eastbound platform shortly after 10.30pm.

The station was closed and trains were halted at Leyton as emergency services tried to rescue the pensioner.

An eyewitness said: "I was in Jets wine bar opposite and we saw all these blue flashing lights. I looked outside and saw six police cars and two ambulances. I phoned London Transport immediately afterwards and was told the station had closed because of 'passenger action'."

British Transport Police arrived within minutes and Mrs Whiter was taken by ambulance to Whipps Cross University Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 1.55am.

Police are not treating the death as suspicious but are examining CCTV footage from the station to find out what Mrs Whiter was doing immediately before the incident.

Mrs Whiter lived in sheltered accommodation run by the Anchor Trust. No-one at Copsfield Court was prepared to comment on how Mrs Whiter might have come to be wandering the streets late on a Saturday night.

A spokesman for Anchor told the Guardian: "We don't facilitate comment about our tenants as a matter of policy."

Pointing out the difference between a sheltered home and a care home, he said: "We are not there to take care of our tenants. We supply services and rent them property so it's not appropriate for us to speak for our tenants."

It is believed that Mrs Whiter had lived at Copsfield Court for about 18 months after moving out of her previous home in nearby Grove Hill.

A former neighbour said: "There was nothing wrong with the woman. There's no reason to suggest why she would do anything abnormal because she was totally compos mentis."