A POPULAR Conservative party supporter was found dead in her Bury home after an apparent shooting accident.

Mrs Sheila Ashworth was found in a pool of blood in the living room of her Spenfold bungalow by a neighbour on Wednesday morning.

It is believed the 57-year-old, who was a secretary of a local gun club, was cleaning a double barrel shotgun the previous evening when it went off, fatally wounding Mrs Ashworth in the chest.

The death of the grandmother of two has sent shockwaves around the borough and through the local Conservative Party which she had actively supported for a number of years.

Between 1987 and 1990 Mrs Ashworth was secretary of the Bury North Conservative Women's Committee and then chaired the committee for the ensuing three years.

Fellow committee member Mrs Rita Banner said: "All those who knew Sheila are completed devastated by this tragic event. We are in shock and our hearts go out to her family.

"Sheila was a woman of great character but was a very private lady. She chose her friends carefully but was liked by all who met her."

Tributes also came from leading Conservative members of Bury Council who worked with Mrs Ashworth on political campaigns over the years. Councillor Roy Walker, the Church ward representative where Mrs Ashworth lived, said: "I knew Sheila very well. She was a lovely woman and this is so tragic."

Fellow Tory representative Councillor Dorothy Gunther spoke of her sadness at the loss of a kind and caring lady.

An inquest was to be opened today, March 19, into Mrs Ashworth's death and will be adjourned pending further information.

Police in Bury have confirmed they are not treating the shooting as suspicious.

Detective Inspector Ian Jackson said: "There are no obvious suspicious circumstances at this stage and the coroner has been informed.

"We are viewing it as an accident."

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