NEIGHBOURS have spoken of their shock after a man was engulfed by flames near their homes.
The 37-year-old was found dead in the back garden of a house in Meadow Way, Chigwell Village, at about 2.30pm on Sunday.
Police are investigating the circumstances of the death, but are not treating it as suspicious.
Raymond Frankel, 60, who saw the man on fire from his home in High Mead, which backs onto the garden, said: “I was having lunch with my wife and my mother and my mother commented that there was black smoke coming up from the garden.
“I ran upstairs so I could see over to the back garden and saw a man on fire. There was what looked like a red petrol can next to him.
“You had to look twice to believe what you were seeing.”
He called 999 and police, fire and an air ambulance attended, but the man had died.
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: “It’s horrible. I was at work, but my wife said there were emergency services and everybody was out.
“It’s quite distressing for everybody.”
Police have reported the death to the coroner’s office.
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