What a horrible way to go.

Elderly holiday sisters killed after being entombed under collapsed bed for FOUR days 'should not have died'



Two elderly sisters suffocated to death when badly-fitted fold up beds collapsed on top of them in their Spanish holiday flat, an inquest heard yesterday.

Mildred Bowman, 62, and Alice Wardle, 68, became entombed under the beds' wooden casing after it fell off the wall and they were trapped inside for four days.

The terrified women screamed for help and tried desperately to free themselves, but eventually died from asphyxiation.
Suffocated in bed: Sisters Mildred Bowman and Alice Wardle died in Spain in 2005

Suffocated in bed: Sisters Mildred Bowman and Alice Wardle died in Spain in 2005

Yesterday a coroner hit out at the management of the holiday complex in Benidorm and said the shocking tragedy could easily have been avoided.

The inquest heard there were no instructions showing the sisters how to lower the fold-down bed properly and the storage unit that fell on them was not fitted properly to the wall.

Coroner Terence Carney told the Gateshead inquest the critical failing was that the screws were the wrong size for the wall plugs holding the heavy unit to the wall. The sisters had also not lowered the bed properly.

'I have no doubt that their deaths were avoidable,' he said. 'If this bed had been fitted properly these ladies would not have been trapped in the way they were.'

Last year relatives were outraged when a Spanish court cleared holiday resort bosses of wrongdoing. But Mr Carney said there was nothing to stop the family from pursuing a case for civil liability.

The sisters, both widows and grandmothers from Gateshead, lived near each other and went on holiday to Spain together two or three times a year.
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Where sisters Mildred Bowman and Alice Wardle died: The box section fixed to the wall fell on top of the sisters as they slept in single beds, trapping them for at least four days

Retired cleaner Mrs Bowman, a mother-of-three, and retired baker worker Mrs Wardle, a mother-of-two, flew to Benidorm on Saturday 30 July 2005 and checked into the Levante Club Apartments.

They had arranged to meet Mrs Wardle's daughter and her family the following day, but the elderly sisters didn't show up.

As time progressed relatives became concerned and searched their favourite haunts until the hotel manager broke the news of their deaths.

They were believed to have become trapped as early as Sunday and their bodies weren't found until Thursday.

An investigation by the Spanish authorities revealed the rooms were cleaned on Mondays and Thursdays. When the cleaner tried to gain entry on the Monday he couldn't get in because the door was locked from the inside.
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The apartment block where Mildred Bowman, 62, and Alice Wardle, 68, were discovered dead

This was not considered suspicious because some guests don't want to be disturbed. But when the cleaner couldn't get in again on the Thursday, a maintenance technician was called and the sisters were found.

A post mortem examination concluded they died sometime between 11pm on the Wednesday and 2am on the Thursday.

Giving a narrative verdict, Mr Carney concluded: 'The deceased died as a consequence of being trapped for an indeterminate time by a collapsed bed unit and in circumstances that could and should have been avoided.'

He told relatives at the hearing there was no evidence to say where the sisters had been since the start of their holidays. 'But horror of horrors I think these ladies were trapped at least since Monday if not earlier,' he added. 'It horrifies me in many ways. I am sorry to have to come to this conclusion.'

Mrs Wardle's daughter Allison Gibbons, 48, was not available for comment yesterday. But after the tragedy it was revealed how Mrs Gibbons and her husband David and their two sons had searched for her mother and aunt after they failed to meet them.

Initially they couldn't remember the name of the apartments they were staying at.

Eventually when she found it she couldn't get a reply from the room and left a note. The family returned the next day and again found them seemingly out.

Mrs Bowman's daughter Carole Gregory said:'It is hard to imagine how frightened and desperate they must have been. They were robust ladies, not frail and weak, they will have fought like hell to get out of there but were unable to move the frame.

'Awful things have been going through my mind. Were they frightened and talking to each other all that time? Did they scream out for help when no one was there to hear? Did they hold hands for comfort?

'We are tortured everyday by thoughts of everything they went through in those four days before they died. They were all alone, and must have known they were going to die. I just can't think about it.

'They must have screamed, but the wood was so thick and they were sealed in like a coffin so nobody heard. It was like they were buried alive.'

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