It was a case of home, sweet home, when an 80-year-old widow won her long legal battle to prove she owns her own house.

Flora Sleebush, 80, has lived in her Scratton Road terraced house in Southend since 1948 - but her husband's death left her tied up in legal red tape.

He had bought the house with his mother Charlotte, who died in 1968 but without any mention of the house in her will. Doubts then surfaced about whether Flora owned the entire property or just half of it.

Other family members were drawn into the debate and her nephew by marriage, Robbie Gordon, who lives in Spain, challenged Flora's entitlement to the entire property.

It fell to Deputy High Court Judge Launcelot Henderson QC to rule yesterday that Flora owned the entire house.

The judge's task was made no easier in coming to yesterday's decision because Flora's memory is "not as good as it used to be" and she was unable to give evidence as the thought of testifying in court "terrifies her".

He ruled Rhys and his mother had "acquired the property as tenants in common in equal shares". That meant Charlotte's share passed into her estate when she died rather than going to Rhys.

However, he said Charlotte had given "clear and unequivocal" assurances to Rhys in 1948 and 1951 that he and Flora would have a permanent home in Scratton Road and the property "now belonged to him in its entirety".

Whatever the strict legal position, the judge ruled it was only right for him to declare Flora Sleebush "is entitled to the whole beneficial interest" in the property where she had lived since she was in her 20s.

Although the property was originally bought at the end of the war for less than £2,000, it is now worth an estimated £180,000.