Doctors have described the death of a father-of-four after contracting septicemia from a small cut on his body as a million-to-one chance.

Barry Young, 47, started to feel unwell a few days before he died.

His partner of 14 years, Sophie Wood, said he was in severe pain with his back and she took him to hospital.

He had a serious car accident in 2001 which left him with serious spinal injuries, so they thought it may be linked to that.

She said: "We told the doctors about his back problems and they were trying to get to the bottom of what was causing him all the pain."

But Barry’s condition went downhill and the doctors asked Sophie if he had somehow cut himself.

Sophie added: "He had cut himself about a week before and had contracted septicemia. Doctors said there was about one in a million chance of doing so - but it was too late."

Sophie described him as "the most beautiful man in the

world" and described how her world had come crashing

down since his untimely death on December 4.

Barry and Sophie, who lived at Lower Halstow, have a 10-year-old daughter, Tess.

Barry, the director of a children’s care home in Sittingbourne, had three other daughters - Hannah, Lauren and Demelza - from a previous relationship, and a grandson, Riley.