Healthy mother-of-two, 37, died after eating uncooked chicken on holiday

A woman died on holiday in Corfu after eating uncooked chicken.

Natalie Rawnsley, 37, was on holiday with her husband Stewart and her two young sons when she was struck down with food poisoning.

Westminster Coroner’s Court heard that Mrs Rawnsley, from Hertfordshire, rapidly deteriorated in 36 hours after eating the chicken at a hotel restaurant.

The triathlete died after blood clots formed all over her body and blocked the ves- sels. Mr Rawnsley said that his wife lay bleeding from every orifice in a hospital bed as his insurance company insisted that she should not be moved to the Greek mainland.

The family left for Corfu on 13 August last year and were just beginning their second week when tragedy struck.

Mr Rawnsley said: “Natalie cut the chicken and the chicken oozed red blood.

“She replaced the chicken with a different piece and ate it.

“She had a few mouthfuls of the other piece of chicken.”

The inquest heard that although Mrs Rawnsley was fit and healthy, the probability of contracting the more serious illness from food poisoning depends entirely on your genes.

Infections expert Professor Sebastien Lucas said: “It depends on what your genes are.

“It seems like Mrs Rawsley had the wrong genes, to put it crudely.

“Assuming it is a ne co li infection, coming from uncooked chicken seems a very reasonable theory.”

The coroner recorded a verdict of death by the accidental consumption of E coli infected chicken.