A 93-year-old widow whose home of 60 years burnt down due to the "negligence" of an uninsured electrician has held on to her £104,000 compensation payout.

Hilda Drake lost a lifetime's worth of possessions - including all her photos - when her two-bedroom bungalow at Northwood Avenue, Saltdean, near Brighton, was ravaged by fire when it was being rewired by Eric Harbour in June 2002. She had moved there in 1949.

The Appeal Court dismissed Mr Harbour's challenge to a judge's ruling that he was negligent.

The elderly electrician, who was already approaching retirement when he worked on Mrs Drake's home, now faces a £104,841 compensation bill, along with heavy legal costs.

Mr Harbour's liability insurance had run out before the fire, so the former police officer and RAF veteran is personally liable for the entire bill.

Top judges were told Mrs Drake's own buildings and contents insurance didn't cover all her losses and she was left "shocked" and deeply distressed by what had happened.

At the High Court last year, Judge David Wilcox ruled that the seat of the fire was in the loft, which had been illuminated by a strip of "festoon lighting", installed as a temporary measure by Mr Harbour during the rewiring job.

He said Mr Harbour, of Wickland Avenue, Saltdean, had failed to check the condition of the insulation of the festoon lighting and that the cable had been used before, increasing the likelihood of it already being damaged.

Holding Mr Harbour responsible, he also found that he did not "volunteer" to those investigating the fire that a festoon system had been in use, and had tried to "gild the lily" by claiming that the cable was new, when it was not.

Judge Wilcox said: "Mr Harbour was aware of his vulnerable uninsured position and, by omission and embellishment, was willing to gild the lily."

In the Appeal Court, his barrister, Mark James, argued his negligence had not been proved, nor that it was the "cause" of the catastrophic blaze. Amongst other things, he argued the fire could have been sparked by an "undiscoverable defect" in the festoon cable.

However, dismissing his challenge, Lord Justice Longmore, sitting with Lord Justice Waller and Lord Justice Toulson, said: "The judge correctly held that, on the balance of probabilities, Mr Harbour's negligence caused the fire."

Lord Justice Toulson added: "In this case, the judge found that Mr Harbour was negligent in using old cabling for the festoon lighting without properly inspecting it. He found the cabling was the seat of the fire.

"He (Judge Wilcox) was entitled to conclude, as a matter of probability, that the fire resulted from Mr Harbour's established negligence, even though Mrs Drake had not been able to demonstrate the exact mechanism which led to the arcing and over-heating that ultimately caused the fire."

The Appeal Court earlier heard that, before the fire, Mrs Drake was a "robust" lady who lived an independent life and drove a car and was able to travel and pursue her interests.

She had asked Mr Harbour to rewire her house - in which some of the wiring was pre-1950s - for around £2,000, and had gone to North Wales on holiday, leaving him the keys.

On June 26, 2002, Mr Harbour and a younger colleague left the bungalow at around 4.30pm and all was well, but in the early hours of June 27, the fire took hold, destroying much of the house.

When Mrs Drake went to live with her daughter as her house was being renovated, she was knocked over by her daughter's dog, breaking her leg, and suffered a further broken leg when she returned to her home, and she is now "somewhat impaired".

Mr Harbour has always denied he was legally responsible for the blaze, and said he had initially not told a fire investigator about the festoon lighting because he had not been asked.