Chilling clue night before parents killed by bed bugs spray in hotel

20 November 2023 , 07:33

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John and Susan Cooper from Burnley died on holiday in Egypt in August 2018

The granddaughter of a couple who died in an Egypt hotel room after bed bug spray was used said she noticed a 'disgusting smell' hours before the horror discovery.

An inquest this month confirmed that John and Susan Cooper were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning caused by fumes from a pesticide being used in their luxury hotel to kill bed bugs. On the trip, the couple had shared a room with granddaughter Molly, who is now 18.

One night a “disgusting smell” prompted her to move to her mum’s room. Her mum Kelly Ormerod said: “I thought Molly had eaten something funny. She looked peaky but said the smell of my mum and dad’s room was making her feel sick.”

An inquest confirmed John and Susan Cooper were killed by carbon monoxide. Pictured here with Kelly

John, who walked Molly to Kelly’s room, showed no sign of illness. “Dad was fine,” she said. “I thanked him for bringing Molly, kissed him goodnight and he walked back to his room to go to sleep.” The next day, when her parents were not on their sun loungers as usual by 8.30am, Kelly became worried.

John answered her knock but she said he was “incredibly unsteady on his feet”. She recalled: “As soon as he opened the door, I could smell vomit and he was slurring his words. He told me they were feeling rotten. As he walked... it was like watching a bouncy ball. He was walking in a zigzag, pushing himself off the walls.”

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Her mother was in bed, covered in vomit. Terrified, Kelly and family friend Louise Clayton, 58, asked the hotel to fetch a doctor. Kelly said: “It took an hour for one to arrive. Both my parents’ breathing had changed. They couldn’t support their own body weight, so were lying down. The doctor then called for a second medical professional. It was chaos. Dad wasn’t moving, he wasn’t talking, he was frozen. Mum wasn’t talking but she was groaning in pain.”

Kelly Ormerod keeping vigil at her moving tribute to her parents John and Susan Cooper (Daily Mirror/Andy Stenning)

Kelly, a single mum-of-three, 46, added: “I still suffer from the trauma of seeing them die in such a dreadful way. Our family is broken without them. I’m still in so much pain over the thought their deaths could have been prevented but I’m glad we now finally have the answers. We’ve been given closure in the sense that we know how this happened but I don’t feel any better. It should never have happened in the first place.”

Three years after the horror, an Egyptian investigation into the couple’s deaths claimed the cause was E. coli bacteria. Kelly challenged that and the Home Office concluded the deaths had been caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. But it was not until an inquest in Preston this month that senior coroner for Lancashire Dr James Adeley pinpointed the source of the poisonous gas.

The Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the Red Sea Resort of Hurghada, Egypt (Philip Coburn)

Toxicology expert Professor Robert Chilcott told the hearing that in some countries the pesticide Lambda is sometimes diluted with fumigation solvent dichloromethane, which causes the body to metabolise or ingest carbon monoxide. In a narrative verdict, Dr Adeley concluded the couple’s deaths “were caused by the spraying of a pesticide containing dichloromethane in an adjoining room and inhaling the vapour resulting in their deaths by carbon monoxide poisoning”.

The verdict comes after a surge in bed bugs in the UK. And in France, Paris has been particularly hard-hit with the insects found in hotels, homes and even on public transport. Kelly warned that people should only use reputable firms to tackle infestations, whatever it may cost.

She said: “With regards to the UK, I do feel that it’s more regulated – but I’d be worried about people attempting to do it themselves and trying to mix things, or being unaware of what the pesticides contain. Make sure you go with someone who knows what they’re doing and they’re highly regulated. Consider the harm it could do if it goes wrong. I’d hate for anyone to go through what we went through. No price is too high for the safety of yourself and loved ones.”

Ella Buxton