Inquest into death of suspected CJD victim

An inquest is being held into the death of a suspected victim of Creutzfeldt-Jakob's disease who died more than three years ago after falling into a coma.

Vicky Rimmer, of Connah's Quay, north Wales, was thought to be the first teenager diagnosed as suffering from suspected CJD.

The former part-time kennel worker died at the age of 20 in Deeside Community Hospital some four years after falling into a deep coma.

Ms Rimmer, said to be a "keen meat eater", originally fell ill when she was 15-year-old and suffered from static pneumonia for the six months prior to her death.

She was a bright, happy-go-lucky teenager until she fell ill with what experts believed to be the human form of mad cow disease. Her relatives always blamed hamburgers for her debilitating illness.

Speaking at the time of her death, Vicky's grandmother Beryl Rimmer, of Heswall, Wirral, Merseyside, said she hoped others would benefit from the family's tragedy.

"I am determined to find out what was wrong with her and how she got CJD, she had never been ill in her life, never even had a cold," she said.

The inquest is being heard at the magistrates court in Flint before North East Wales coroner John Hughes.