Police launch probe into fatal outbreak

South Wales police have set up an incident room to co-ordinate investigations into an outbreak of legionnaire's disease between July 1999 and January 2000 that killed two people in a Cardiff hotel.

Detectives are looking into files after the deaths last December of two people in their fifties who had been staying at the Copthorne Cardiff hotel in Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff.

Three other guests were struck down by the Legionnella pneumophila bacteria but survived. The bacteria were traced to a broken humidifier in a chilled food display (Caterer, 4 May, page 5).

The Vale of Glamorgan environmental health department called in police straight after the deaths, which is standard procedure under Health & Safety Executive (HSE) protocols where fatalities are concerned.

But the joint investigation involving police, environmental health and the HSE was announced only two weeks ago, when an incident room was established at the police station in Barry.

Detective Superintendent Kevin O'Neill said a small team had been working on the incident "from day one", but it had taken some time to pull together the resources needed for a joint investigation.

He said it would be a long and complex process spanning several more months, and involved making enquiries outside the police area, such as talking to the installers of the defective equipment.

If the police or the Crown Prosecution Service decide against pressing criminal charges, it is understood that the Vale of Glamorgan will continue the investigation under food hygiene legislation.

A spokesman for Millennium & Copthorne said it would be inappropriate to comment at this point.

by Angela Frewin