‘Loving’ Sheffield girl, 3, died in hotel lobby during tragic family holiday in Turkey

Lily Gibson, from Halfway, died in a hotel lobby at Bodrum Holiday Resort after her parents had rushed to seek medical help when her condition suddenly deteriorated, Sheffield Coroner’s Court was told today, Tuesday, January 26.

The ‘smart, funny and loving’ youngster had been suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting in the days leading up to her death, and had attended a clinic the previous day with a temperature, but her parents said they were left with the impression it was just a ‘routine’ illness when she was allowed to return to her hotel that evening.

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The court heard how Lily’s dad Chris awoke on the morning of Saturday, August 25, 2018, to find her eyes were rolling, her arms were stiff and she was making murmuring noises.

Lily’s mum Lisa picked her up and ran to get help but the youngster stopped breathing in the lift and despite her mother attempting CPR before paramedics arrived she was pronounced dead soon after.

In a heart-rending statement read out in court, Lily’s mum paid tribute to her ‘smart, funny and loving little girl’, who she said had loved dancing and was a ‘born entertainer’.

Lisa told how her daughter had been a ‘happy and content’ child who enjoyed appearing in dance shows, made friends easily and was someone other children ‘used to gravitate towards’.

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She also loved nursery, especially painting and playing outdoors; trips to the park, whatever the weather; and spending time with her grandparents, said Lisa, who added ‘she was just a beautiful, loving little girl’.

The court heard how there had been concerns about hygiene at the resort, with several other guests, including Lily’s mum, also suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting.

Lily’s mum told how there had been flies ‘all over’ the food in the dining room and there were cats ‘running about’.

But an environmental officer at Sheffield Council said the samples taken showed no signs of pathogens in food or bathing water and that although there were other reports of illness these were more typical of the diarrhoea and vomiting associated with viral gastroenteritis.

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The coroner said when summing up that there was no evidence that poor hygiene at the hotel had contributed to Lily’s death.

A report by Dr Alison, a consultant paediatrician at Sheffield Children's Hospital, described how Lily had been ‘fit and well’ when she arrived in Turkey on Friday, August 17, 2018, with her family as part of a party of 11 people.

By Wednesday, she had started to feel unwell, with a runny nose, a cough and a temperature, and the following day she developed diarrhoea.

That Friday morning, she began vomiting, appeared jaundiced and had a slight temperature so was taken to a clinic, where medics said it was possibly a virus or a bacterial infection.

At around 10pm that night doctors said it would be OK for her to return to the hotel, having been given medication including antibiotics and Calpol, because although she was no better she was not getting any worse.

Lily’s parents said there didn’t appear to be a ‘degree of concern’ about her among the doctors, and they got the impression it was ‘just a routine diarrhoea and vomiting illness’, so they returned to the hotel by taxi.

Her dad slept in the same bed as her and she woke every 15 minutes needing water before going to sleep at around 4.50am on Saturday, August 25.

At around 7.30am her dad heard her making some ‘unusual noises’

"Her eyes were rolling, her arms were stiff, she was possibly shaking and was making murmuring noises,” read the report from Dr Alison.

"Her mum picked her up and ran. Lily’s dad followed and found Lily’s mum on the floor with Lily somewhere near a lift, performing CPR. She had stopped breathing in the lift.

"Her dad took her to reception to try to find a doctor, and Lily was taken into a room. Two ambulances arrived and police.”

Efforts to resuscitate her failed and Lily was pronounced dead in the hotel lobby at around 10am.

A post-mortem carried out by medics in Turkey gave the cause of death as bronchitis but Dr Marta Cohen, a consultant paediatrician at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, who carried out her own post-mortem disputed that conclusion.

She told how Lily had an enlarged spleen and lymph node, which were indicators of a viral infection, and there was evidence of necrosis of the liver, which is symptomatic of liver failure.

Dr Cohen said it was impossible to say what virus had caused the liver failure or how she had contracted it but that hepatitis was a possibility.

Assistant coroner Steve Ecclestone gave the cause of death as liver failure with an underlying cause of ‘viral infection of unknown origin’.

Summing up, he told Lily’s mum: “Your evidence was that conditions in the hotel weren’t sufficiently hygienic and there were a number of people including yourself who were ill.

"I accept the evidence is that the standards of general hygiene in the hotel could and should have been better but I have to remind myself that general correlation isn’t a specific causation.

"I don’t have evidence that any of those issues specifically in the hotel were the things that actually led to Lily’s illness. It’s a possibility but I don’t think I can go so far as to say that was the cause so I resist that.”