Families demand justice over water poisoning

The heartbroken husband of a woman who died after Britain's worst water poisoning incident has joined a West coroner in attacking the Government.

Its refusal to carry out vital research that would allow an inquest to go ahead has led to an agonising four-year wait for two victims' families.

Doug Cross's wife Carole died in Taunton in 2004, three years after developing a rare brain condition thought to be linked to the 1988 incident in which a lorry driver tipped 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate into the wrong tank at Camelford water treatment works, near Lowermoor in North Cornwall, affecting 20,000 homes.

In the wake of the blunder, West Somerset coroner Michael Rose opened inquests into the deaths of Mrs Cross, 58, and another victim, Irene Neal, 91, after large amounts of aluminium were found in their brains.

But on Friday Mr Rose said he was being forced to adjourn the hearing, due to begin in November, because the Government has refused to carry out the research which could prove the link between the poisoning and Mrs Cross's subsequent death.

Her husband, an environmental scientist who has been investigating the medical effects of the disaster, said: "The Government's decision not to fund it is another example of their refusal to look at what happened, it's unbelievable." Mr Cross said the research would be of international importance and help experts understand more about Alzheimer's disease and dementia at a time when the number of cases are sharply increasing.

He said: "It's not just about my wife, it's so much more important even than that."

The couple moved to Dulverton in 2001 but Mrs Cross died in Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital in 2004 and tests showed "abnormally high" levels of aluminium were found in her brain.

Mr Rose revealed on Friday he had been forced to turn to Somerset County Council to pay for an expert investigation into the link, because the Government refused "to either finance of assist in such research".

Professor Margaret Esiri from the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, and Dr Chris Exley of Keele University in Staffordshire, were appointed for the task.

In a statement Mr Rose said: "In order to establish the consequences of the deceased having such a high level of aluminium, it was necessary to carry out research to test the hypothesis of a link between exposure to aluminium and congophilic amyloid angiopathy.

"Unfortunately, Her Majesty's Government have so far not been prepared to either finance or assist in such research and therefore it has been necessary for me to seek the assistance of Somerset County Council in providing the finance.

"The necessary consent has been given and I have been informed that further time is required to complete this project. I have therefore decided with considerable reluctance to adjourn the inquest into the death of Mrs Cross, but not Mrs Neale. The adjournment will also assist me in tracing the whereabouts of a further six of the 22 witnesses who it is felt could give evidence."

The case of a second victim Irene Neal, 91, of Rock, North Cornwall, who died last year, will go ahead as planned, the coroner confirmed.

The council confirmed it would fund the research but would not be drawn on how much the tests would cost, although the coroner's original application to the Government estimated costs to be £140,000.

Last year, Mr Rose also asked the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police to appoint a senior detective to look into allegations of what he called a "cover-up".

For nearly two decades the victims of the Lowermoor blunder, who suffered vomiting, mouth ulcers and rashes, have demanded a full inquiry.

After a trial at Exeter Crown Court in 1991, the South West Water Authority was fined £10,000 with £25,000 costs for supplying water likely to endanger public health.

Three years later, 148 victims of the incident reached an out-of-court settlement, with payments ranging from £680 to £10,000.