My five-year battle to prove my parents were killed by bed bug spray
ambulance – after an earlier ambulance had been turned away by hotel staff – but she sadly died two-and-ahalf hours later.
Kelly said: “I had some hope my mum would be OK, as she was taken to hospital. But when I arrived, the doctors thought they were part of a suicide pact. It was devastating as I knew my parents wouldn’t have committed suicide.
“No one could give me answers about why they’d died. They told me to go back to the hotel and sort it out with them.”
Five days later, a devastated Kelly and her children flew back to the UK and she bravely acted as a pallbearer at her parents’ funeral. Since then, she has been battling to find out why John and Susan, from Burnley, died.
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.
Poisonous
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.
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.”
Kelly has decided not to sue the hotel because she says it is not cost-effective and she “just wants closure with everything”. Now, she and her children take a “scoop” of John and Susan’s ashes on every holiday, scattering them at sea to “feel closer to them”. Kelly said: “They were the most loving parents and grandparents. There will always be a big hole in my heart.”
To mark finally finding out the truth behind the tragedy, Kelly is planning a holiday to Lesbos, Greece – one of her parents’ favourite places – next August with those who were in Egypt when they died.
But after the verdict, she expects an emotional festive period, saying: “This Christmas feels like our very first after their death all over again.”
“I’m glad we finally have the answers we’ve waited five years for. The inquest brought out the raw emotions I felt when it happened.
The day I lost them was, without a doubt, the worst day of my life.”