by A 13-year-old girl with a severe milk allergy may have been served hot chocolate made from cow’s milk after a possible “misunderstanding” when ordering it, an inquest heard on Tuesday.
Hannah Jacobs, who had suffered from allergies to dairy products, fish and eggs since childhood, died within hours of taking a single sip of the drink, the inquest in east London was told.
Urmi Akter took the takeaway drink order from Hannah’s mother, Abimbola Duyile, on February 8, 2022.
During her testimony on Tuesday, Akter exercised her right under forensic rules not to answer a series of questions that could be considered incriminating, relating to her training, understanding, knowledge and actions when she was assigned the assignment.
The court was told Hannah suffered an “immediate reaction” after taking a sip of the drink, which her mother had bought before an 11am dentist appointment. Hannah, from Barking, east London, was pronounced dead at 1pm the same day.
An autopsy revealed that the teenager died of an anaphylactic hypersensitivity reaction triggered by an ingredient in her hot chocolate that caused an allergic reaction.
The investigation revealed that there was a factual dispute regarding the order. Duyile says she ordered two soy hot chocolates and asked staff to clean the equipment thoroughly.
Akter, who worked at the Costa Coffee branch in Barking for about eight months, told the court that she could “clearly” hear and see Duyile as she served her at the counter.
In her testimony at the inquest, she said Duyile asked for two hot chocolates and then added: “Can you wash the pot because my daughter is allergic to milk?”
Under Costa’s rules, customers who order a dairy-free product or indicate they have special dietary requirements must be shown a book kept under the till listing the ingredients and details of how the drink is made, the court heard.
In Akter’s statement he says: “I did not show the mother the book because she told me that washing the jug was OK. I thought that as a mother she would know more about it [it]. I gave her the drink she wanted.”
Akter told the court that she repeated Duyile’s request to wash the pot and also pointed out that hot chocolate is made from milk. Duyile replied: “That’s fine.”
Deputy coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said: “I understand you said the mother mentioned the milk allergy. The book was not shown to the mother and the only thing that was done was to prepare one drink, wash the jug and prepare the other drink.”
The coroner also asked Akter why she did not show Hannah’s mother an allergy book, contrary to her training, and whether she found it “odd” that the customer had asked her to wash out the pot between making the two drinks.
Akter, who sat next to a Bengali interpreter during her testimony, declined to answer.
Emily Slocombe, representing Hannah’s family, asked: “If you had taken out the allergy book and shown it to Hannah’s mother and discussed it with her, that would have been an opportunity to clear up any misunderstandings, wouldn’t it?”
Slocombe also asked Akter whether she repeated the order to Duyile and why she did not confirm whether cow’s milk was used and whether she told the barista who subsequently prepared the drink about the allergy.
Akter did not answer these questions.
The investigation is ongoing.
