A former pageant queen died after a 20 year battle with anorexia.

Julie Wilson developed the fatal eating disorder after being crowned Miss Ware at the age of 20 in 1991.

Her mum, from Braintree, said her weight plummeted to just five stone before she died alone aged 46 at her home earlier this year.

An inquest last week heard how Ms Wilson died from multiple conditions, including heart failure caused by her anorexia, and was not found for up to two months.

Gina Wilson, 74, said: “After winning Miss Ware, she was getting thinner and thinner.

“At her lowest weight in 2013 she was just five stone. It was her worst time.

“She was just sitting on bone, it was awful to see.

“In her photos you can see that she had quite a full square jaw.

“She thought that if she lost weight, she would have a sculptured face."

The hearing at Hatfield Coroner's Court was told how she was found at her home in Stevenage on January 9.

Mrs Wilson told how Julie was happy and healthy prior to taking part in the Miss Ware competition, but after developing the disease, it stayed with her for more than 20 years and she was forced to give up her job in Asda as her organs shut down.

Braintree and Witham Times:

Mrs Wilson said she and her husband Norman, 81, finally confronted Julie about her health in 2000, when she admitted to needing help.

She said: "One Christmas, maybe in 2000 but I'm not sure, she came over and asked about the special sweetcorn salad I used to make.

"I told her that I hadn't made it this year, but would go and quickly rustle some up now- and she came and sat down and ate a bowl.

"She ran out the room straight after and I popped my head around the stairs, I half-knew what was happening.

"When she came down from the bathroom, I asked her, 'Have you got it all up now?'

"She sat as a 5'11 girl on her dad's lap in the living room with her hands around his neck and cried. She said, 'I think I need some help.'

"So that was it- we took her straight to her doctors and they said they would get the ball rolling right away- and they did, I couldn't fault them a bit."

Julie was hospitalised and despite having turned to her parents for help, Mrs Wilson said Julie started shutting them out as she continued to struggle with the condition.

In November last year, Julie's neighbours called police after a postman noticed her mail was piling up under her letterbox and once inside they found Julie's body in the hallway of her home.

Coroner Geoffrey Sullivan put her death between November 19, 2016, the last entry in her diary, and January 6, 2017.

He ruled that Julie had died of natural causes.

Mrs Wilson added: “It hurts so much that people are going to wonder why it took so long for her to be found.

“People will think that we're awful, they're going to think that we didn't care at all.

"I just wish that it had happened when she had all her family around her and she wasn't alone- or that it happened when we were allowed to visit, so that she wasn't there for so long.

“It's heartbreaking. We'd just like to say to any other anorexia sufferers out there, please take warning.”