A MOTHER-of-six died from cervical cancer after a hospital failed to act - despite three smear tests showing signs of the disease, a court heard.

The family of Christine Stothard has launched a battle for damages, claiming negligence.

Mrs Stothard, a canteen assistant at Durham University, was just 33 when she was struck down a year after giving birth to her sixth child.

She left children aged between one and 15, and her husband, Ronald, now 52, when she died in 1987, just months after complaining of a pain in her side.

The High Court, in Newcastle, heard yesterday that Mrs Stothard could have been cured if abnormalities detected in three smear tests over the five years before her death had been acted upon.

Mr Stothard, of Durham Road, Bowburn, Durham City, broke down in tears as he recalled the months leading up to his wife's death.

He told the court told how his wife relied on morphine to control the pain she was in and underwent radiotherapy and a blood transfusion, while he relied on support from friends, neighbours and family to help bring up the youngsters.

A test carried out on Mrs Stothard in 1982 was said to have "probably" showed some abnormalities, although none were noticed or reported.

She had another smear test in January 1986, and her cervical slide was reported as showing "marked cell changes" and requested a repeat test in one month.

Additional assessment and screening should have been carried out on the basis that the test was not negative, but no such assessment occurred, the court heard.

Mrs Stothard underwent a further smear test on May 1, 1986, and this time the results came back negative. On November 3, 1987, Mrs Stothard was dead.

Her family claim Gateshead Health NHS Trust were negligent in failing to diagnose the disease until it was "too late".

The case continues.