The parents of a young mother who died of cervical cancer after a series of medical blunders are battling for damages at the High Court.

Tracey Edwards, 26, of Bray Close, Blackbird Leys, Oxford, died on May 6, 1997, at the John Radcliffe Hospital, after doctors failed to diagnose the disease until it was too late.

She left three children, Daniel, now 10, Michael, six, and Katie, five, and her husband Peter Martin, 27.

Her parents Michael and Jennifer Edwards are suing the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, responsible for the JR, Oxfordshire Health Authority, and Solihull Hospital in the West Midlands, on behalf of the family.

David Melville, for the family, told Judge Walter Aylen that the three defendants admitted liability for Ms Edwards' death only last week, and the family was now seeking damages.

He said Ms Edwards "lived her life for her children and her husband" and died knowing her marriage to Mr Martin had broken down because of the stress of her illness. Pizza delivery driver Mr Martin, who now lives with Michael and Katie, in Smethwick, Birmingham, left what had been a "happy family unit" shortly before his wife died.

Mr Melville told the court Ms Edwards visited Solihull Hospital, in September, 1990, for a routine cervical smear test.

He said the results picked up a wart virus and irregular cells, but were still inadequate.

Although it was recommended she return in a year, the second test returned negative and she was given the all-clear.

Mr Melville said the smear was wrong and should have picked up the early stages of cancer. If she had been treated then, she would have survived. In the next few years, she had Daniel by Mr Scott Gibson, who now cares for the boy, and then she married Mr Martin, in 1995.

In January 1996, while pregnant with Katie, she went on a family holiday to Glasgow and visited Bellshill Maternity Hospital, in Lanarkshire, complaining of abdominal pains.

Obstetric registrar Dr Anne Calder "didn't like what she saw" and wrote a letter to her GP, detailing her concerns and recommending that she had a colposcopy -- an internal investigation.

But after being referred to the JR on returning to Oxford, she was told there was nothing to worry about and was given the impression "she was worrying for no reason and was taking up valuable time", the court heard. Mr Melville said she was relieved, and went home believing everything was all right.

But after Katie was delivered on May 15, 1996, her health deteriorated.

Three weeks later, she was admitted to the JR complaining of bleeding and abdominal pains. Cervical cancer was diagnosed two days later.

Mr Melville said: "The devastation that the news brought is recorded in the hospital notes."

Ms Edwards had a hysterectomy three months later in a bid to save her life, but she became terminally ill by March 1997, when the cancer had spread to her lungs. The family want the three defendants to pay the costs of bringing up Michael, Daniel and Katie, as well as compensating the children for their mother's loss of earnings.

Mr Melville told the judge that Ms Edwards should also receive posthumous compensation for the trauma she suffered after her cancer was diagnosed.

The case continues.