Brixton, London -- A Ghanaian woman of 82 has been burned alive in her flat by an intruder. It happened hours after she had taken her two grandchildren to school.

The devastated family of the woman were in shock today at the "senseless nature" of her murder.

The body of Victoria Adu-Mensah was found after firefighters arrived at her flat on the Hertford Estate in Brixton.

They thought they were dealing with an ordinary house fire and on making the discovery immediately called in police who launched a murder hunt.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "The victim and her family are law-abiding citizens and there appears to be no clear motive." He added: "We really don't know what happened at this stage. We are not sure if someone may have come to visit her. This will be subject to investigation.

"We are treating her death as murder and it is believed she had been set alight and her ground floor flat subject to arson."

Police are now looking for witnesses who saw Mrs Adu-Mensah taking her grandchildren on their 200-yard journey to their school on Loughborough Road around

8.45am yesterday. And they are trying to find anyone who was seen entering her flat before 9.43am when the fire brigade was alerted to smoke billowing from the windows.

This morning three officers stood guard outside the gutted flat. Mrs Adu-Mensah lived their with her daughter, her two grandchildren and son-in-law. They were not at home at the time of the blaze.

Neighbour John Forde, 55, a bus driver, said: "I saw smoke billowing past my kitchen window just before I was about to set off for work.

"I left home and saw a man trying to break into the flat and there were four or five fire engines. I didn't know her well, but she was always friendly and polite and we'd often have a quick chat. I can't believe that somebody could do this to her." Another neighbour, Sydney Osei-Owusu, 23, was a family friend. Mr Osei-Owusu is from Ghana, as was the dead woman, and had known her since he moved to the estate four years ago.

He said: "She was a friend of my mother's. They used to visit each other so I would see her when she was around at our flat. She was a very warm, kind woman. She was a defenceless woman and I don't know how this could happen just around the corner from where I live."

Mr Osei-Owusu comforted one of the grieving woman's relatives. He added: "Her daughter was here yesterday and she was in floods of tears. I was trying to comfort her, as was my mother who was also in tears.

The Hertford Estate has a reputation for violent crime.

It is plagued by fly-tipping and is off a busy road which is notorious for street crime. Diane Tyler, 53, a nurse, lives nearby. Mrs Tyler said: "I have been attacked and mugged twice in the last five years around the corner from here. Since then I do not carry a handbag or keep valuables in my car.
"There have been quite a few muggings and violent attacks in this area and I hope that they install CCTV cameras soon.
"I've lived in this area for 15 years and the situation is getting worse. The estate itself is not particularly bad but the area in general is quite rough."
Detective Chief Inspector Brian Hayes, of Scotland Yard's serious crime group, is leading the investigation. A post mortem examination will be carried out today.
Mrs Adu-Mensah is the second elderly lady to have been killed at her home in the past few weeks. Last month, 82-year-old Cassie Quin was murdered in a "ferocious and sustained" attack at her Brentwood home in Essex. She was bludgeoned with a sharp instrument at her ?300,000 house, just 50 yards from her local police station.