'Slapping' death woman 'desperate for cure'

A woman who died following a "slapping workshop" was desperate to cure her diabetes, her son has said.

Danielle Carr-Gomm, 71, of Lewes, East Sussex, died at Cleeve House in Seend, Wiltshire, on 20 October.

She had taken part in an alternative health session involving paida lajin therapy. She previously said a session had yielded "astonishing" results.

Two men, aged 51 and 53, and a woman, 64, were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and released on bail.

Paida lajin involves patients being slapped or vigorously slapping themselves repeatedly as part of a "self-healing" process.

Matthew Carr-Gomm said his mother had been seeking alternative treatments after being diagnosed with diabetes in 1999.

He said: "She had a lifelong fear of needles so she struggled with the diagnosis and initially took a course of tablets instead.

"She was always keen to try and find alternative methods of treating and dealing with her diabetes and was very interested in alternative and holistic medicine and therapies.

"I know she was desperate to try and cure herself of this disease. She always maintained a healthy lifestyle and was adamant that nothing would stop her from living a full life."

The week-long course at Cleeve House which Mrs Carr-Gomm attended was run by Hongchi Xiao, originally from Beijing.

Mrs Carr-Gomm, who was originally from Issenheim, in France, wrote a blog post about a previous session she had completed in Bulgaria.

She wrote: "Large areas of my body... bruised and blue which indicated that a lot of 'sha' or poisoned blood and toxins had been released".

She described painful seizures and said she vomited "the most horrible syrupy black stuff", but believed it improved her blood sugar readings and she planned to attend more workshops.