A husband has vowed to carry on his fight after an emergency service said "sorry" when his wife died following a five-hour wait for an ambulance.

Mandy Gray, 38, celebrated Christmas and Boxing Day with her husband Neil, 31, and children Wayne, 15, Kyle, 13, and eight-year-old Rochelle, despite suffering from a pelvic infection.

Two days later her condition worsened and her GP arranged for a non-emergency ambulance to take her from her home at Thames Road, Redcar, for tests at Middlesbrough General Hospital.

The ambulance was called at 6pm and had not arrived by 11pm, when Mrs Gray appeared to have a fit. Her husband dialled 999 and an ambulance arrived within ten minutes.

But in the ambulance, her heart stopped and efforts to revive her failed.

Her family was later told that complications caused by the infection, and a problem with her colon, had contributed to her death.

An inquiry was launched by Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service after Mr Gray complained. The authority admits mistakes were made.

A spokesman for the ambulance service said: "We fully admit that we could have better handled Mr Gray's initial complaint.

"Given the appalling weather, the exceptional demand on us at the time, and the procedures we have to follow, it was impossible for us to have got there sooner, and for that we are very sorry."

But Mr Gray said "sorry" was not good enough.

He said: "It was a catalogue of mistakes, and I have lost my wife and my children have lost their mother."