A GRIEVING son is suing the owners of a spa hotel following his mother’s death in an airing cupboard at the venue.

Nroth Wales coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones reported in an inquest that former policewoman Elizabeth Isherwood fought for several hours to free herself after a door handle “malfunctioned”, locking her in the cupboard in the middle of the night at Plas Talgarth Resort in Pennal.

She clawed through brickwork and plaster to try to escape, using a pipe she had broken as a chisel to try to cut through the walls.

But water spraying from the other end of the broken pipe drenched her as she battled to escape, accelerating hypothermia.

The verdict at the inquest was misadventure.

Now Mrs Isherwood’s son Craig, 33, says he is seeking compensation from holiday resort owners Macdonald Resorts over the tragedy.

Mrs Isherwood, 60, from Wolverhampton, became trapped on the first night of her one-week stay at the holiday complex in September 2017.

An inquest heard the part-time care worker had got up in the middle of the night and became trapped in the cupboard in the en-suite bathroom. Her body was found by staff at the end of the week.

Mr Isherwood, from Palmers Cross in Wolverhampton, alleges that Macdonald Resorts was negligent in failing to check whether the door handle was working properly.

The RAC patrolman said he was bringing the action to try to prevent any other family going through a similar ordeal.

“My mother died in the most terrible circumstances you could imagine,” he said.

“We think she had been trying to escape for several hours.

“Tragically, she had made a hole big enough to climb through, but did not realise her way out was only blocked by a picture screwed to the other side of the wall.

“Mum was fit and healthy and had years of a very happy life ahead of her.

“The legal action is not about the compensation, because how can you put a value on a life? It is about the fact that this should never have happened. I just want the company to admit that they made a mistake in not checking the door properly and make sure that this cannot happen to anyone else.”

Mr Isherwood is being represented by Adam Wilson, an Associate in the Serious Injury and Clinical Negligence Team at Midlands law firm FBC Manby Bowdler.

Mr Wilson said: “This was a quite horrific tragedy. There is no amount of money which can compensate Mr Isherwood and his two children for the loss of a much-loved mother and grandmother.

“The central issue is whether the company was negligent in not correctly maintaining the door at the property, which we believe to be the case.”

Mrs Isherwood, known as Mary to her friends and family, had been holidaying alone for the final time at the complex at Pennal, after the family had agreed to sell its share in the timeshare apartment.

She had returned to the UK after emigrating to New Zealand to be close to her family and regularly cared for grandchildren Molly, 11, and Poppy, aged eight.

MacDonalds Resort have been contacted for comment but none was received by the time the Cambrian News went to press.