Crime writer Ruth Rendell died this weekend after suffering a stroke earlier this year.

The 85-year-old, who had a seat in the House Of Lords as a Labour peer, passed away at 8am on Saturday morning.

Ms Rendell, who was born and spent her childhood in South Woodford, is best known for her series of novels featuring Chief Inspector Wexford.

In a statement, her publishers Penguin Random House said: "We are devastated by the loss of one of our best-loved authors.

"Ruth has been published by Hutchinson since 1964 and under her pen name Barbara Vine, she wrote 14 novels for Penguin.

"Ruth was very much part of our publishing family and a friend to many at Penguin Random House.

"We will miss her enormously.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this time."

Baroness Rendell of Babergh started her career as a Loughton-based journalist at the Guardian's rival paper the Chigwell Times after leaving Loughton County High School for Girls.

Some of her fiction is set in Epping Forest and Loughton, and she coined the name ‘Little Cornwall’ for the hilly portion of Loughton in her novel ‘The Face of Trespass’, first published in 1974.

Rendell has been a Labour life peer since 1997, campaigning on issues including female genital mutilation and helped pass a law preventing girls being sent abroad for the procedure.

She has more than 60 novels to her name and recently completed another book, which is due out this autumn.