THE grief stricken family of 80-year-old Margot White have told how police quizzed them as the pensioner lay dead in an alleyway just yards away.

The body of the frail grandmother was found in a pool of blood at 10.15am on Saturday in an alleyway leading from Sainsbury's in Calne to The Pippin.

But as police detectives investigated the cause of death, which was initially unclear, rumours swept the town that Mrs White of Honeymead, Calne, had been murdered.

It was not until Monday that the family were told a post mortem examination confirmed Mrs White had collapsed when she suffered a heart attack, which caused her to fall back and cut her head on the pavement.

Mrs White's son-in-law Barry Muscroft, 54, of Woodhill Rise, Calne, said: "We didn't have a clue what had happened.

"The CID were asking us lots of questions. Was this a regular route for her to take? What did she carry in her handbag? The whole nine yards.

"We understand they have to do their job, but it was a very long time to leave her there."

Head of Chippenham CID DS Craig Holden, said: "An incident of this nature needs to be investigated to ensure there are no suspicious circumstances.

"Because of the time of day and the location there were some concerns about how it happened.

"But until we had spoken to witnesses and found out exactly what happened it was treated as suspicious."

Mrs White's daughter, Anita Muscroft, 44, praised passer-by Leon Smith who raised the alarm after finding her mother and also staff at Sainsbury's who telephoned the emergency services. She said she was also very grateful to her mother's friend Doreen Morse and another woman who stayed at her mother's side, holding her hands until she died.

Mrs Muscroft said it gave her enormous comfort to know her mother did not die on her own.

By the time the family arrived at the scene, paramedics, including the crew from Wiltshire's Air Ambulance, who landed their helicopter in Calne's Portemarsh Industrial Estate, were attempting to resuscitate Mrs White.

Mrs Muscroft was allowed to stay at Sainsbury's but at 10.45am paramedics told her that her mother was dead.

But she refused to leave the scene until her mother's body was taken away four-and-a-half hours later.

Later that evening her granddaughter Rebecca Muscroft, 18, laid pink carnations, which her grandmother had in her wedding bouquet, at the site where she collapsed. But when she returned half-an-hour later she found they had been stolen.

Mr Muscroft said: "A lot of people outside Calne thought because of the incident and because of the town's reputation it was a mugging, a murder or a drugs related crime.

"What we want to get across is that the people of Calne were there to help her when she fell."

Mrs Muscroft said that on Sunday Sainsbury's put a bucket in the alleyway with a bunch of flowers and a card and told their security guards to keep an eye on it to prevent further thefts.

She said she took the bunch of flowers she gave to her mother on Mother's Day from her home and placed them in the bucket.

She said several more bouquets and cards have since appeared.

"The help and support we received from all those people, many of whom we didn't know has helped restore my faith in humanity," she said.

"What Sainsbury's did with the bucket has helped undo the pain. My daughter was gutted when she found someone had taken her flowers.

"Now every time we go to Sainsbury's we will be reminded of her and we will have to get used to the idea of other people living in her bungalow."