A MOTHER whose home was severely damaged by fire is sleeping in a tent with three of her children until a new property is ready Last week the Worcester News told how Jayne Wallis and her two youngest children, Mckenzi, aged one, and four-year-old Jordan, who suffers from autism, had been sleeping in a car following a fire at their home in Windermere Drive, Warndon, Worcester.

Miss Wallis said the car was totally unsuitable, so they, and her 10-year-old son Reece, had been sleeping in a tent in her sister-in-law Denise's garden in Thorne Avenue, Brickfields, while her two daughters, Conni, seven and Tammi, nine, slept inside the house.

"It's just a nightmare," said the 41-year-old. There is no room at Denise's because there are 13 people there.

"The two girls are squashed in a room with another three girls."

The family is waiting to be rehoused in a four-bedroom maisonette in Warndon's Cranham Court while their home, owned by Worcester Community Housing, is repaired following the fire, which is believed to have started in the television set.

The housing group said Miss Wallis should have been able to pick up the keys to the property yesterday, but Miss Wallis said she would not be ready to move in until she had furnished it. Miss Wallis and her family were housed in hotel accommodation immediately after the fire. A spokeswoman for WCH said a temporary home had been found for the family in Tolladine's Portefields Road, but Miss Wallis turned it down as it was too far from Warndon.

Meanwhile, the kindness of one man - Stephen Adams of Defence Security, the firm which fitted the smoke alarm which alerted Miss Wallis to the fire - has lifted the family's spirits.

Miss Wallis contacted Mr Adams to thank Defence Security. The marketing director discovered Jordan was autistic and decided to buy him some Thomas the Tank Engine toys to replace those destroyed in the fire.

"For autistic kids it's doubly devastating because they like continuity," said the 56-year-old of Withall, Worcestershire, whose 18-year-old daughter Zoe is also autistic. It was great to meet the family," he said.

Miss Wallis appeared in the Worcester News to thank everyone for rallying round.