A 73-year-old former taxi driver died after a thorn from a rose bush became embedded in his finger, causing septicaemia.

The Daily Mail reports that George Emmerson was pruning rose bushes in his garden and did not realise a thorn was in his finger. He developed blood poisoning and had to have first his finger and then his arm amputated. He died a week later after doctors were unable to stop the poison spreading through his body.

Mr Emmerson – from Whitby in North Yorkshire – was married and had three children and three grandchildren.

The accident happened two weeks ago and Mr Emmerson thought he had simply pricked his finger while out working in his garden. However, his finger began to swell up and after a week he was admitted to the local hospital in Whitby before being transferred to Scarborough District Hospital.

Surgeons at first removed his finger and then his arm in a bid to try and save his life. He was admitted to intensive care, however, and suffered a fatal heart attack from which he died.

Mr Emmerson’s family say they are in shock over the freak gardening accident. His wife Brenda said:

‘It was obviously quite an aggressive infection. I think it's quite unusual for it to have spread so quickly.’

She described her husband as ‘a loving family man’ and said he had raised thousands of pounds for charity.

The couple’s daughter Claire Morais, 38, also paid tribute to her father:

'We were very lucky, we couldn't have asked for a better dad, and mum for a better husband. He was very caring and would do anything to help his family and friends. He would give 110 per cent. He thought of everyone before himself and he was brilliant.’

More information about septicaemia – caused by the same bacteria as meningitis – is available from the Meningitis Research Foundation (http://www.meningitis.org/).

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