A WIDOW whose husband died after being diagnosed with food poisoning on holiday in Turkey is campaigning for their hotel to be withdrawn from brochures.

Pictures of 63-year-old Graham Leese show him tanned and dancing with wife Ivy four days into their family trip to Gumbet in May last year.

But the following day, on Saturday, May 31, Mr Leese suffered sickness and diarrhoea.

He was admitted to a local hospital, where he was diagnosed with food poisoning, placed on a drip and sent back to his hotel to recover.

Instead his condition deteriorated and he was admitted to intensive care on the Monday, but never regained consciousness and died on June 4.

His wife believes the food poisoning caused a dormant stomach ulcer to burst.

North Staffordshire Coroner Ian Smith recorded the cause of death as a benign duodenal ulcer.

He said he could not rule out the possibility of food poisoning aggravating the condition, but also said the symptoms could have been because of the ulcer.

Now Mrs Leese, of Goddard Street, Longton, is asking travel agent Goldtrail Holidays to remove the hotel from brochures pending an investigation into hygiene at the resort.

She said: "If we hadn't gone on that holiday Graham would still be here.

"Now my life has been turned upside down and I don't want the same thing to happen to anyone else.

"It was an all-inclusive holiday and we didn't eat anywhere else. We weren't concerned at the time but eggs and meat were left uncovered at breakfast."

The couple had gone on the two-week holiday, costing around £600 each, with Turkish son-in-law Nahit Ozarslan, granddaughter Asia and daughter Yvonne – who also picked up a rash in the resort, which required hospital treatment.

The condition was put down to sandflies from a nearby building site.

Following Mr Leese's death, the family say they were shocked to arrive back at the hotel to be confronted by a Turkish housekeeper denying he got food poisoning from the resort.

Mrs Leese said: "We were extremely distressed and suddenly this staff member was screaming at us in Turkish saying it was a lie.

"We were moved to a different hotel but it was the last thing we needed.

"When we went to see Graham for the last time he was not in a hospital bed, he had been put in a body bag in a freezer and all his injuries from treatment were on display, it was a traumatic and a vision that has haunted our sleep.

"I had to be pushed on to the plane to leave Graham, it was devastating and I couldn't believe he wasn't coming home with us.

"We had so many plans to travel Europe, enjoy our grandchild and build an extension on the house.

"Graham hadn't worked for a few years through suffering depression but told me on holiday he was feeling much better."

Yvonne said: "I feel angry at the hotel."

A spokesman for Goldtrail said: "While we have every sympathy with Mrs Leese, having recently received her correspondence this matter is in the very early stage of investigation, therefore we are unable to comment on the issues that have been raised.

"We once again offer our sincere condolences to Mrs Leese for her tragic loss."

Dr Jonathan Green, a senior consultant gastro-enterologist at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, said: "If the food poisoning was extremely severe that could stress the body sufficiently that a pre-existing ulcer would burst, but it's extremely unlikely."

The coroner's report states: "An ulcer had caused pyloric stenosis. This could certainly have given rise to symptoms of nausea and vomiting. I cannot exclude the possibility of food poisoning but I suspect that the presenting symptoms in Turkey were caused by the ulcer."

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