BRAVE mum whose disabled son drowned in a bath has been dealt new heartache.

Two years ago Brenda Rowley's 30-year-old son Malcolm died in a bath at a Salford Council care home.

Just nine months later her husband Fred, 56, died of heart failure and on the day of Malcolm's inquest her 28-year-old niece lost a fight against cancer.

Now doctors have told Mrs Rowley that her 76-year-old mum Ellen has been struck down with terminal cancer.

But the courageous widow is vowing to continue her fight for justice for Malcolm, even though she is helping to care for her sick mother.

Mrs Rowley, 48, of Whimbrel Road, Astley, said: "We only found out that my mum has terminal cancer the week before last.

"She had gone into hospital for treatment for emphysema. I will cope because I know that what I'm doing is right.

"I know that Malcolm has not had justice yet but I'm not after vengeance.

"I was in a meeting about Malcom when I got a call from the hospital about my mum. I finished the meeting first and I told my mum I'd done that and she told me she would have been annoyed if I'd done any different.

"Malcolm was the apple of her eye. He was a person with a disability but he also had big blue eyes, a giggle and a wicked sense of humour."

The quadraplegic man, who was epileptic and had the physical abilities of a four month old baby, drowned after he was left unattended in the bath at the care home in Eccles.

Mrs Rowley's fight for justice has been given new hope with news that the CPS has called for independent counsel to re-examine Malcolm's drowning in July 1998.

It follows a letter from Mrs Rowley to the CPS, copied to the Director of Public Prosecutions, in which she demanded the case be re-reviewed.

A jury at the inquest into Malcolm's death decided he died as a result of an accident to which neglect contributed.

Mrs Rowley added: "I think this is a major step forward and I feel very positive about it.

"The only thing is that the evidence is dead because Malcolm was the evidence of just how bad his disabilities were.

"He simply had no choice but to lie there while the water covered him. There was nothing he could do to alter it."

Salford City Council have refused to comment about the new review into the case.