'My mum died after using a hot tub on holiday'

"We were right all along," says the family of a woman who died after she contracted Legionnaires' disease from a hot tub at a holiday park.

Paulette Crookes, from Shanklin on the Isle of Wight, died in March 2020, just one month after using a hot tub at Tapnell Farm Park in Yarmouth on the island, where her family had taken her for her 70th birthday.

The jury at Isle of Wight Coroner's Court on Tuesday concluded her death was caused by an "infection, which was acquired from a hot tub" at the farm.

Her daughter Denise Scott, 48, said the family's initial concerns with the hot tub had been dismissed and she was was now relieved "people believe us".

Tapnell Farm said it extended its "deepest condolences" to the family and "the health and safety of our guests and staff remains our highest priority".

Mrs Scott said they went on a large family holiday at Dairyman's Cottage at Tapnell Farm to celebrate her mother's birthday in February 2020.

"She loved spending time with her family, especially her grandchildren," she said.

There were 10 of them on the trip and Mrs Scott said she had gone early with her sisters to put up birthday decorations to make the venue special.

She added: "It was wonderful, it was a lovely cottage, beautiful. The hot tub was there, nice and warm, and we were just looking forward to having fun as a family."

She said her mother had been "full of life", determined to use the zip wire at the farm and one of the first people to use the hot tub.

"She was loving it, absolutely loved it, she really did," Mrs Scott said.

She remembers how the water did look dirty on the second day and it was developing a "scummy foam", but the family just assumed this was normal after use.

Within days, her mother and some of the children became ill, being "really sick," developing "rashes" and feeling "dizzy".

Mrs Crookes had to leave the farm early and she was in hospital in intensive care less than a week after the holiday.

"She was exhausted and I thought her body is not going to recover unless she actually got some rest," Mrs Scott said.

Her mother was still conscious and made the decision along with the doctors and her family to go into an induced coma so she could rest.

"She promised us that she'd wake up," Mrs Scott said.

On 8 March, the doctors told the family that there was nothing more they could do and the decision was made to switch off Mrs Crookes' life support.

Mrs Scott said "it was awful" as the family gathered to be with their loved one.

Just before Mrs Crookes' death she had been diagnosed with Legionnaires' disease, which is a lung infection that can be caught from inhaling droplets of bacterial infected water from things like air conditioning or hot tubs.

The inquest into Mrs Crookes' death found: "The maintenance record-keeping in respect of the hot tub by Tapnell Farm was inconsistent and incomplete."

It noted the water treatment used to clean the tub had been below the limit recommended by the UK's Health and Safety Executive.

It stated the family had notified Tapnell Farm on 11 February 2020 that seven members of the family had been unwell and that this had likely been caused by a bacteria infection from the hot tub.

Environmental Health were not notified until 19 February, when they visited to test the water in the hot tubs at the site.

Legionella was not identified in any sample relating to the Dairyman's Cottage.

However, the jury noted that the farm had had several opportunities to clean the hot tub before Environmental Health had been notified.

In 2022, Mrs Scott said they had been told there was not enough evidence to prosecute the farm and it had received an informal written warning.

She said the family had felt deflated after that and "just got on with life".

"Life was just busy, it was non-stop and that's what we did for the next few years until this coroner's inquest came around," Mrs Scott said.

She said one of her sisters had died three months after their mother's death and her father James who had "missed" his late wife "terribly" died in the years following.

Reflecting on the inquest, Mrs Scott said she had been worried about being let down again.

"We'd been let down so many times before that we just didn't want to get our hopes up, we were in the hands of 10 strangers," she said.

She added: "My whole body was shaking uncontrollably waiting for it [the verdict] to come through and it came through finally and the relief, actually someone believes us."

The jury's final decision was that Mrs Crookes had died as a result of pneumonia, the direct cause of which was Legionella pneumophila infection, which was acquired from a hot tub at Dairyman's Cottage.

Mrs Scott spoke about her gratitude for the coroner and her hope that more will be done to hold Tapnell Farm accountable for the incident.

"At the moment, all they've got is an informal written warning, carrying on with this big park, tourist attraction and we're without our mum," she said.

She also hopes the incident will raise awareness of the potential risk of hot tubs to people's health.

"It's quite easy to jump in a hot tub and not think twice about it but it is a very high-risk thing to do," Mrs Scott said.

Tom Turney, partner at Tapnell Farm, said: "We acknowledge and respect the conclusion reached by the jury at the recent inquest, and we extend our deepest condolences to Mrs Crookes' family.

"The health and safety of our guests and staff remains our highest priority."

Isle of Wight Council declined to comment.

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