'There was nothing they could do': Inquest opens into Legionnaire’s disease death of Ludlow hotel guest

Elaine Esther Brown, 69, fell ill after returning home to Liverpool following a trip to Shropshire with her husband Graham.

They stayed at the Feathers Hotel on July 30 as part of an organised coach trip.

John Ellery, senior coroner for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, said Mrs Brown died four weeks later from a stroke linked to Legionnaires disease.

The inquest at Shirehall, Shrewsbury, heard that the pair met in July 1987, when Mrs Brown was 38 and he was 11 years her junior. They married a year later.

A statement read out on behalf of Mr Brown, who died last month, said they went abroad two or three times a year but recently decided to holiday in England.

Mr and Mrs Brown got on a coach in Liverpool on July 30 and headed to Warwick, Lincoln and then Ludlow.

"We stayed one night at the Feathers Hotel in Ludlow," the statement said. "We were on the second floor and it had a disappointing view looking out onto a garage and some outbuildings.

"We had a routine when we went on holiday and she always had a shower first in the morning. We both showered, cleaned our teeth then went to Ludlow market and to the castle.

"Elaine thought the trip was great."

Ambulance

Mr Brown said he noticed something was wrong with his wife's health when she could not get out of bed the following weekend.

The statement said: "She later got up in the afternoon but she didn't want anything to eat then went to bed early. On the Sunday she didn't look well and said she didn't feel it. She tried to get up out of bed but fell back down."

Mr Brown phoned for an ambulance and Mrs Brown was taken to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

On Monday morning she was transferred to the intensive care unit and put on a ventilator until August 26.

"I woke up on the Monday morning and noted that the hospital had tried to call me," Mr Brown's statement said.

"I went in and the doctor told me there was nothing else they could do and they were going to turn her life machine off."

Mrs Brown died later that evening from a stroke contributed to by Legionella pneumonia.

In the months after her death, Mr Brown was diagnosed with clinical depression and was signed off work.

"I wanted to go back to the way things were but I know it can't because Elaine is not there," he added.

The inquest, which is expected to last two days, will also hear from former director of the Feathers Hotel, Tim Ceney, former hotel manager Ian Taylor and Ewen Grange, owner of Grange Heating Services, which carried out plumbing works at the hotel.

Mr Ceney, of Birmingham, took over the hotel in 2004 after his father died, and admitted he had no experience in running hotels, building work or plumbing.

He said: "In 2012 having read an article in a magazine I asked the hotel manager Ian Taylor to commission a legionnaires risk assessment. I found this document very difficult to comprehend but I requested that Ian Taylor implement as many measures as he could."

In 2013 Mr Ceney forwarded the risk assessment on to Grange Heating Services Ltd, based in Leominster, for advice.

Following a survey of the hotel, owner Ewen Grange sent Mr Ceney an email with a list of proposed works that would allegedly remove the legionella risk.

The programme of works was carried out in January 2017, Mr Ceney said.

At that point he believed the risk of legionella had been "completely eliminated".

He also told the inquest that he was contacted in July 2015 by Shropshire Council to say there had been a legionnaires case in the Midlands and during the incubation period, the person had stayed at the Feathers.

In April 2017, just months before Mrs Brown, contracted the disease, Mr Ceney was alerted that another woman had fallen ill.

Former manager of 14-years, Mr Taylor, told the inquest that the rectification works were completed by February 2017 and there was regular tap flushing, temperature readings and shower head cleaning.

He added: "Since Mrs Brown's death the Feathers worked tirelessly in relation to its legionella risk. Due to the nature of the building, it has been a complicated and difficult process."