A HEREFORD woman took her own life after feeling down over an infection believed to have been caught in hospital.

Kathleen Howes, aged 84, was found dead at her Aconbury Avenue home in Redhill by family members in the early hours of May 11, 2008.

An inquest heard from her son, Daniel Howes, who said his mother had been taken into hospital with severe diarrhoea but had caught an infection while there causing an ulcer on her foot.

“I think she came out (of hospital) too soon,” he said.

“She said when my father died in 1997 that she wanted to be with him, and I think the problem with her foot, which affected her mobility, was the final straw.”

Deputy coroner for Herefordshire, Mark Bricknell, said Mrs Howes took her own life following an overdose of dihydrocodeine.