A FATHER-of-five has been killed by a superbug. Harry Eastham, 35, of Wycoller Avenue, Burnley, caught the clostridium difficile infection.

He contracted the bug after a procedure carried out at Manchester Royal Infirmary to correct his irregular heart rhythm, his widow Katie said.

However hospital bosses said there was no evidence the infection was contracted at the hospital.

They would not comment further on claims made by Mrs Eastham but have offered to meet her to discuss his case.

But Mrs Eastham, who is expecting her husband's sixth child in March, is now planning to take legal action against the hospital .

On his death certificate the cause of death was given as clostridium gastroenteritis, another name for clostridium difficile.

The bug, which causes excessive diarrhoea, left him so drastically dehydrated that his kidneys shut down, his wife said.

Mrs Eastham said her husband, who went into hospital before Christmas, needed the procedure after an earlier infection affected a birth defect in his heart.

She said he had been sent home soon afterwards, and his sickness was first put down to a change in his medication.

Later, he was diagnosed with gastroenteritis, and it was only when his condition worsened again and he was taken to Burnley General Hospital that the superbug was identified , she said.

He died three days later on Wednesday, January 17.

He had been eagerly awaiting the birth of his son, who the couple had already named Tyler Austin Lewis. He had three other children with Mrs Eastham - Cordell, eight, Harry-Dillon, three, and Phoenix, two, as well as two older children from a previous relationship.

Mrs Eastham said: "I'm very apprehensive now about the birth - he was there for all our other three children and I don't know how I will cope without him.

"It doesn't feel real yet. When I wake up there's a few moments before I realise that he's not there and then I might cry a bit, but I have to go into autopilot, put my face on and get on with things.

"Phoenix wakes up shouting for him and that's the most difficult bit. I can't explain it to the little ones in a way that they can understand.

"I think my anger at what happened to him is what has stopped me from grieving properly, and I can't let go of my anger until I get something done about it. All my family and his family are behind my plans to sue the hospital."

She said family and friends would remember her husband as a "cheeky chappie" who liked a laugh with his friends and family.

His heart condition had meant he was unable to work, and he had spent almost all his time with his children.

His wife said: "He hadn't had it easy but he tried to make the most of every day. We had a brilliant time together."

Mr Eastham's funeral will be held tomorrow at St Catherine's Church, Todmorden Road, followed by a burial at Burnley Cemetery.