A MORBIDLY obese woman from East Oxford died after being hit by a Marks & Spencer shopping trolley, an inquest heard.

Valerie Cattle, of Radcliffe Road, was leaving the Queen Street shop in Oxford in August last year when she was struck by another customer's trolley.

The 68-year-old's injury led to cellulitis – an infection of the deeper layers of the skin – that brought on a deep vein thrombosis pulmonary embolism, causing her death just under two weeks later.

Assistant coroner Nicholas Graham gave a conclusion of accidental death at Oxfordshire Coroner's Court yesterday.

Mrs Cattle's husband Ian said the injury was caused when another trolley being pushed by a female shopper clipped the 68-year-old as the pair were approaching the exit.

The retired bus driver told the inquest the trolley came from the side and was moving "very fast" before it hit his wife's left ankle.

The inquest heard Mr Cattle attended to his wife's injury, which had broken the skin, before her GP prescribed a course of antibiotics on August 21.

Following a visit from district nurses, Mrs Cattle, a retired college scout, was taken to hospital on August 25 as the condition of her leg worsened.

During surgery the following day she suffered a cardiac arrest but was successfully resuscitated before suffering another on the way to intensive care.

She was pronounced dead just after 8pm.

Consultant pathologist professor Ian Roberts said an 11-12 day time period between injury and death in these circumstances was typical and also gave obesity as a contributing factor.