Woman died after catching disease from dirty holiday hot tub

Paulette and James Crookes

A woman died after contracting legionella from a hot tub at a holiday cottage rented to celebrate her 70th birthday, an inquest jury has ruled. Paulette Crookes, a retired butcher's assistant, had been staying with family at the Dairyman's Cottage at Tapnell Farm on the Isle of Wight - where she spent "a lot of time" in the hot tub.

Soon after the holiday she became ill and her condition quickly deteriorated. Mrs Crookes died at St Mary's Hospital, Newport , Isle of Wight, on March 8, 2020. A jury inquest into her death concluded that her death was as a result of pneumonia which had been directly caused by a legionella infection acquired from the hot tub.

Mrs Crookes, originally from Rochford in Essex and living in Sandown, Isle of Wight, had booked the Febr