A WORRIED neighbour tried to kick down the door and run into a burning building to save a woman during a fatal house fire, a court heard.

Andrew Wilding is standing trial accused of murdering his own mum, Elsie Pinder, 66, in the blaze in Southchurch Road, Southend, on July 3 last year.

Yesterday, the jury heard evidence from a man who lived above the flat and attempted to rush in and save Ms Pinder after hearing her screaming out for her son.

The neighbour said: “We woke up in the early hours of the morning to Elsie shouting out three times for her son.

“It was loud enough we could hear it from the flat below. We didn’t hear any smoke alarms going off and don’t remember hearing any in the five years we lived there.

“My partner got up and told me she could smell smoke. I went to the top of the stairs and the smoke was ankle deep.

“I couldn’t see our front door and the smoke was around my ankles.

We got out quickly and I went to Elise’s patio doors and banged and shouted for her and Andrew.

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“It was all black and very dark inside so I couldn’t see anything.

I went to the main front door and then to Elsie’s front door and kicked it in and it took four attempts.

“I then knelt down and shouted for Elsie and Andrew. I could see flames up the walls and ceilings and the flames were about two to three metres away from me.”

He said he went back the backdoor and banged and shouted for the mother and son again.

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The neighbour added that he ran to a nearby petrol station to get a fire extinguisher but wasn’t sure if it was the right kind so decided not to use it.

On Tuesday, prosecuting, Andrew Jackson told the court Wilding set fire to home he shared with his mother, intending to kill her before fleeing the scene to buy a McDonald’s milkshake.

Wilding, 42, of Southchurch Road, Southend, is on trial charged with murder and arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

He denies the charges and the trial continues.