A pensioner who died four days after returning from a holiday to Sri Lanka was found to be suffering from 'Economy Class Syndrome', an inquest heard.

Spinster Beryl Pitcairn, 87, of Chyngton Way, Seaford, was admitted to hospital the day after the 14-hour return flight.

She died three days later from blood poisoning, contracted after she grazed her leg in a boat trip while on the island.

But a post-mortem examination found that she also had blood clots in her lungs which the pathologist said had been caused by the long-haul flights.

The condition has been dubbed 'Economy Class Syndrome' because cramped conditions in cheaper airline seats are thought to increase the risk of blood clotting.

Dr Christopher Moffat told Eastbourne Coroners Court that the clots had contributed to Miss Pitcairn's death.

He said: "Long-haul air travel has quite a significant risk factor for the development of pulmonary thrombosis in the legs.

"If she also had an infection of the leg that would be a further precipitating factor. It was in part due to her air travel."

Miss Pitcairn, a former secretary from Seaford, returned from Sri Lanka on October 9 very ill but did not visit her doctor until the following day. The GP immediately sent for an ambulance.

Blood tests at the hospital showed she had a virulent strain of streptococcal septicaemia. She died on October 13.

East Sussex coroner Alan Craze recorded a verdict of accidental death. He said: "What killed this woman was the blood disease.

"It seems quite clear that the wound on her leg was ultimately the cause of her death although she also had pulmonary thrombo-embolism, which the doctor put down to air travel."

Speaking after the inquest, a friend, James Crawford from Inverness, Scotland, said: "When I spoke to her on the phone when she returned her breathing was terrible and she was short of breath.

"She was very poor, very breathless and had great problems getting up and down the stairs. She was in an awful state."