Widow sues company for £200k after husband died from eating infected cheese
A man passed away after his wife's romantic gesture went tragically wrong - and three years on, she has now launched a £200,000 lawsuit over his death.
Carina Parkes is hoping to receive a six-figure payout following the sudden death of her late husband Roger, which came just days after he ate the gift she had bought him for Valentine's Day.
She treated her beloved spouse to a box of various cheeses from an artisan company based in Wiltshire and was completely unaware that it was contaminated with a potentially deadly bacteria.
Roger, a painter from West Sussex, is said to have grazed on the selection of cheeses over the course of a few days after receiving the 'Valentine box' from his wife in February, 2023.
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She had purchased the present from The Old Cheese Room, a company run by master cheesemaker Julianna Sedli and her husband Karim Niazy.
An inquest into Roger's death previously heard how the artist had chowed down on a 'Baronet' Reblochon cheese from the box, which unbeknownst to him, was infected with listeria.
The NHS explains that this bacteria can contaminate a wide range of foods and if consumed, it can lead to a person contracting an infection known as listeriosis.
Typically, sufferers experience mild symptoms - such as a high temperature, aches and pains, chills, vomiting and diarrhoea - or none at all.
Health experts say it is 'usually not serious' for most people, however, it can cause severe complications for pregnant women, newborn babies, the elderly and people with a weakened immune system.
Roger became seriously unwell after 'picking at' the Baronet cheese over a period of a few days, and was then rushed to hospital in an ambulance on 21 February, 2023.
Two days later, as his condition continued to deteriorate, he was taken to another hospital where medics told Carina that he had contracted listeria.
The artist was then place under the care of the infectious disease team, who gave him antibiotics. Despite the best efforts of hospital staff, Roger passed away six days after he was first admitted to hospital.
An inquest held in September 2024 concluded that the cheese he had eaten had been contaminated and was not fit for human consumption. It was ruled that Roger's death was a result of multiple organ failure and meningitis.
In wake of his passing, The Old Cheese Room issued an alert to customers via the Food Standards Agency in March 2023, while withdrawing a batch of the Baronet Reblochon from sale.
The product is said to be popular among cheese-lovers thanks to it being made from organic Jersey milk and boasting a 'buttery taste' as well as a 'lovely pale-yellow core'. Two other people also fell ill after eating it.
Although the cheesemaker has admitted that the item Roger fatefully ate was contaminated with listeria, it has refused to accept responsibility for the customer's death.
The award-winning business, based at Neston Park, instead pointed to Roger's complex health conditions.
Carina is now suing the Old Cheese Room in the hopes of acquiring more than £200,000 in compensation for her husband's death.
In papers lodged with London's High Court, the widow's legal representative Shahram Sharghy explained that the inquest into Roger's death concluded that it was likely that the cheese became infected 'due to the defendant's manufacturing process'.
But the lawyer for the Old Cheese Room Ltd, Alexander MacPherson, has hit back at Carina's suggestion that the firm is responsible for her husband's death.
He admitted that his client's cheese was contaminated, but said it was up to the widow to prove that eating it led to Roger's passing - while suggesting the late painter's health woes might have been to blame.
"It is noted that Mr Parkes had undergone extensive aortic surgery in the few months preceding his death and that such surgery included a spinal drain in the context of E. coli sepsis," the barrister said.
"Accordingly, he was at substantial risk of developing paraplegia and/or an infection of the central nervous system in any event.
"In those circumstances, it is not admitted that a Listeria infection was the cause of Mr Parkes' death, as opposed to Mr Parkes' death arising as a result of his aortic condition and subsequent surgery.
"The claimant contends ...that Mr Parkes would have had a normal life expectancy but for his listeria infection. This is denied.
"In particular, Mr Parkes' serious cardiovascular problems resulting in his recent history of aortic surgery, renal failure, heart failure, DVT and hypertension would have severely curtailed his life expectancy."
MacPherson also challenged the overall amount of damages that Carina is seeking.
Sharghy argued that the Old Cheese Room 'admitted breach of duty', as court docs state: "The defendant failed to remove the cheese from sale and caused, permitted and suffered the contaminated cheese to be consumed by Mr Parkes in such quantities as to make him seriously ill and die as a result of contracting listeria and suffering multi-organ failure."
Roger described himself as a 'self-taught artist working to traditional guidelines but with an interest in both impressionism and semi-abstract work' online and is said to have also worked as a chef.
The case will go to court for a pre-trial hearing unless it is settled out of court beforehand.
Topics: Food And Drink, Health, UK News, Business
Olivia Burke