THE GRIEVING son of a retired policewoman who was found naked in an airing cupboard at a hotel is suing the holiday resort.

Elizabeth Isherwood, 60, a part-time care worker, got stuck in the cupboard when the door shut behind her and internal door handle fell off.

She may have been stuck for more than two days before dying of hypothermia.

An inquest into her death heard how she desperately tried to force her way out by breaking off a section of copper pipe.

But water poured on to her which accelerated her hypothermia.

The ex-cop, from Wolverhampton, had rented the villa at the Plas Talgarth holiday complex near Machynlleth in Wales in September last year.

She was found dead a week later by caretakers investigating a leak at the property.

The coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.

Her son Craig, 33, is now seeking compensation from holiday resort owners Macdonald Resorts.

He claims the firm was negligent in failing to check whether the airing cupboard’s door handle was working properly.

RAC patrolman Craig, from Wolverhampton, said: “My mother died in the most terrible circumstances you could imagine. We think she had been trying to escape for several hours.

“She broke off a pipe and used that to try to break through the walls, but as a result water sprayed down on her.

“Her body temperature was sky high because of the exertion, but when she stopped her temperature plummeted because she was soaked – and hypothermia set in.

“We believe she died that night or the following day.

“Tragically, she had made a hole big enough to climb through, but did not realise her way out was only blocked by a picture screwed to the other side of the wall.

“A couple in a neighbouring apartment heard banging and thought they would report it if it went on after 5pm.

“But sadly, my mother gave up her attempt at 5.05pm so they assumed it had been maintenance workers who had finished for the day.”

Mrs Isherwood, a keen golfer and hill walker, had checked in alone for a week-long stay at the villa last September.

The gran-of-two had co-owned the timeshare at Plas Talgarth with her former husband, Clive Isherwood, but the pair had recently sold it.

They separated when Mrs Isherwood came out as gay.

Her ex-husband said at the time of the inquest: “The staff at the complex had given Mary some vouchers to use for a final stay.

“She would’ve usually gone with friends but nobody could make it during that week so she went alone.

“It must have been awful for her, to be trapped in there.”

Dad-of-two Craig said his “fit and healthy” mum had “years of a very happy life ahead of her”.

He said: “The legal action is not about the compensation, because how can you put a value on a life?

“It is about the fact that this should never have happened.

“I just want the company to admit that they made a mistake in not checking the door properly and make sure that this cannot happen to anyone else.”

Craig is being represented by Adam Wilson, from law firm FBC Manby Bowdler.

Mr Wilson said: “This was a quite horrific tragedy, and there is no amount of money which can compensate Mr Isherwood and his two children for the loss of a much-loved mother and grandmother.

“But we believe that this was a tragedy which could, and should, have been avoided. It is impossible to imagine the distress Mrs Isherwood must have gone through as she tried to free herself from that cupboard.

“The central issue is whether the company was negligent in not correctly maintaining the door at the property, which we believe to be the case.”

A spokesman for Macdonald Resorts said they were unable to comment at this stage.