Camelford poisoning results due

A toxic chemical was tipped into the wrong tank at the Lowermoor works

The first post-mortem examination has been carried out on a woman who drank contaminated water during the Camelford water poisoning incident in Cornwall.

Along with thousands of people, the 59-year-old woman consumed water which was contaminated with 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate in 1988.

Hundreds of people said they became ill after the toxic chemical was put into the wrong tank at a treatment works.

The post-mortem results will be released later this week.

Brain damage claims

The Camelford woman died last year.

The husband has told the BBC that she suffered from symptoms similar to Alzheimers.

Tests on the woman's brain have been carried out at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

People in the Camelford area have complained over the years of a variety of symptoms from brain damage to joint problems.

In 1991, the then South West Water Authority was convicted at Exeter Crown Court of supplying water likely to endanger public health and fined £10,000, with £25,000 costs.

Three years later 148 people won an out-of-court settlement totalling £400,000.

A draft independent report into the incident, the third to be carried out, said in January it was unlikely that the chemicals involved in the incident would have caused any delayed or persistent health effects.

No conclusive link was found between the incident and the chronic symptoms and diseases.

A final report is expected early in the new year.

Dr David Miles, the then director of public health for the Camelford area, told the BBC there was "no cause for alarm".

"The health of the area is broadly the same as the rest of the county," he said.

"The health of the population is good and continues to be good."