A British Sky TV researcher who started a new life in the Caribbean died after bungling doctors botched a routine operation and starved her brain of oxygen for up to 15 minutes, an inquest has heard. Kate Clayton, 30, fell into an induced coma after medics inserted an airway tube into the wrong part of her throat, causing her face to swell up uncontrollably and leaving her with fatal brain damage. Her distraught mother Jo told an inquest how the doctor responsible for her daughter's care in Grand Cayman admitted: 'I'm very sorry, I messed up.' Kate Clayton, 30, originally from Southampton, died after bungling doctors on a Caribbean island starved her brain of oxygen during a routine operation, an inquest has heard . A leading medic from Southampton, where Miss Clayton was later transferred for emergency treatment, also told the hearing that he could 'not understand' why it had taken doctors so long to realise their mistake. In a narrative verdict, the coroner openly criticised the care given to Miss Clayton at Georgetown Hospital, ruling that she died 'as a direct result of the failed tracheotomy' which was 'inadequately carried out.' The inquest, which was heard in Winchester, heard how Miss Clayton had been rushed to hospital on the Caribbean island in January this year after a horror crash which left her paralysed from the chest down. The young woman, originally from Southampton, had moved to Grand Cayman in December 2013 to embark on her dream career as a diving instructor after leaving her job as an analyst at Sky. Mrs Clayton, who flew to the Caribbean from the UK following the crash to be at Miss Clayton's bedside, told how her daughter had been conscious and improving in the days before her death. She had even regained some feeling in her legs and was building up enough strength to talk to her family back in the UK on Skype, the inquest was told. But Miss Clayton's recovery was derailed when she underwent the tracheotomy, an operation which went 'horribly wrong' and left the young woman fighting for her life. The operation had been carried out so that Miss Clayton, who was relying on tubes to breathe, would be able to breathe on her own. The former researcher was flown back to Southampton General Hospital (pictured) for emergency treatment after an online appeal raised more than £30,000 in four days, but she could not be saved . But, instead of inserting a breathing tube into Miss Clayton's trachea, medics inserted the tube into her mouth, meaning oxygen was pumped straight into her neck tissue. Mrs Clayton told the inquest that she had been waiting outside in the hospital corridor for news of the routine operation when one of the medics took her aside to explain what had gone wrong. The inquest heard how the operation had already been postponed for a day because doctors could not find the right tube to insert in her throat. 'I was eventually told that I could go in but I had to go into the side room and talk to the doctors,' she told the coroner. 'I had to pass her room to go to the side room and being mum I still had to go and look. She was lying there with her eyes open, she looked like she'd been in a boxing match. She was all swollen up and my immediate instinct was that she was dead. 'Dr McField came in and he was really upset, his words to me were "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry I've messed up, I've messed up. The usual procedure went horribly wrong, it was my mistake". 'He then told us Kate had been starved of oxygen and she was in an induced coma.' She added: 'She was having seizures which she hadn't had before. Due to the botched tracheotomy everything was sort of done. I don't think anybody knew quite what was happening, so it was a big panic. 'I left Kate at 4.32pm a happy person looking forward to coming home and found her a couple of hours later just not good. I thought she was dead and in real terms she was. 'She had the operation to stabilise her neck but she was having seizures in between time, it was horrible to see your kid having fits. Her eyes rolled and she frothed at the mouth but she wasn't there, her eyes were just gone, there was no light there. 'I'm just so sorry. What I feel is just she was so good and excited and suddenly it was all taken away.' After the botched operation, an online appeal called Help Kate Get Home raised £36,000 in just four days, providing her family enough money to bring Miss Clayton back to the UK. However, just one week after arriving Southampton General Hospital, she died while in the intensive care unit. The 30-year-old had moved to the Cayman Islands (pictured) to work as a diving instructor in December 2013 . Colin Griffiths, a consultant neuro-surgeon at the Southampton General Hospital, told the hearing in Winchester that he could not understand how doctors had made such an elementary mistake. 'I don't understand why they weren't able to get the tube back into place, right away. In my experience they should have been able to,' he told the inquest. Recording a narrative verdict, Coroner Sarah Whitby said: 'On January 11 2015 the deceased Kate Clayton was severely injured in a road traffic accident on Grand Cayman island. 'Miss Clayton was treated at the Cayman Island Hospital for significant spinal, pelvic and bowel injuries and in the course of her treatment had a failed tracheotomy procedure where the procedure and its management prevented any oxygen from reaching her brain for at period off at least eight minutes, and resulted in hypoxic brain injury. 'On the balance of probabilities and relying on medical records and evidence from Miss Clayton's family, her subsequent death on the 18th of February 2015 having been transferred to Southampton General Hospital, was as a direct result of the failed tracheotomy which the evidence indicates was inadequately carried out.' Miss Clayton's family declined to comment after the inquest.
Kate Clayton, 30, from Southampton, moved to the Cayman Islands in  2013 . She was rushed to hospital following horror crash which left her paralysed . Medics then inserted tube into mouth rather than trachea during operation . Mother, who flew from UK to be at bedside, was told by medic 'I messed up'
Miss Clayton was flown back to UK after campaign which raised £34,000 . But she later died 'as a direct result of the failed tracheotomy', inquest told .