A leading economist died within 24 hours of contracting necrotising fasciitis, the infection known as the “flesh-eating bug”.

David Walton, who was a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, died at the age of 43 on June 21 at Cheltenham General Hospital. Doctors had watched helplessly as the infection spread across his body. Warren Doherty, who was among those treating him, told an inquest in Gloucester yesterday that the infection “spread before our eyes, down the thigh, growing up towards the shoulder and chest. The necrosis was progressing in front of us and it was clear that he would die.”

The inquest was told that Mr Walton had been admitted to his local hospital in Cirencester the previous evening with fever and stomach pain. Doctors initially suspected kidney stones, an ailment he had suffered from previously. As his condition deteriorated and his kidneys began to fail he was moved to Cheltenham General’s high dependency unit.

Keith McCarthy, a pathologist, confirmed the cause of death as necrotising fasciitis, a condition caused by Streptococcus pyogenes. Dr McCarthy said that Mr Walton’s back, groin, buttocks and legs had been attacked by the aggressive disease, some of the blisters measuring up to 3cm (nearly 2in).

There was no obvious source for the infection and Mr Walton did not appear to have had recent injuries, he said.

Dr McCarthy added: “There was no entry site for the bacterium, but that is not always necessary. It may enter through a wound, but can also occur with the infection of an organ such as the kidneys. From the way it developed in this case one would assume it started in the urinary tract.”

Mr Walton had recovered from the condition hairy cell leukaemia, but it was said to have played no part in his death.

Recording an open verdict, Alan Crickmore, the Gloucestershire Coroner, said: “He developed the signs and symptoms of necrotising fasciitis very rapidly, and, as accords with my limited experience, the progress was so fast that even the doctors treating him were able to describe it as spreading before their very eyes. But the evidence does not disclose to me exactly how the infection arose.”

Mr Walton’s widow, Nicola, with whom he had two sons, attended the inquest, leaving without making any comment.

The Chancellor, who had appointed Mr Walton to the Monetary Policy Committee, was among those to pay tribute to him at the time of his death. Gordon Brown said: “David Walton was one of the UK’s leading business economists and a highly respected commentator on economic affairs. He made a great contribution to economics and eco nomic policy-making in this country and I am deeply saddened by his sudden and early death.”

Mr Walton, who began his career at the Treasury where he worked as an economist from 1984 to 1986. He joined the investment bank Goldman Sachs in 1987, becoming chief European economist. He became a visiting research professor at the University of Oxford’s Economics Department in 2005.

That June he was appointed to the committee that detemines interest rates. At his first two meetings he was outvoted seven to one when he alone favoured an increase in interest rates from 4.5 per cent.

The Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, also paid tribute to Mr Walton when he died, saying: “David inspired the respect and affection of all his colleagues in the Bank.”

Oxford University has set up the David Walton Distinguished Doctoral Scholarship in economics in his memory.

Deadly foe: Necrotising fasciitis

Cause Bacterial infection, usually Streptococcus pyogenes

Symptoms Redness, fever, severe pain, pus-filled blisters, flesh turns black and dies

First recorded case Infection of the scrotum, France 1883

Mortality rate if untreated Nearly 100 per cent

Mortality rate with treatment 15-50 per cent

Number of cases annually in Britain 3,000

Treatment Antibiotics and immediate surgical removal of affected tissue

Prognosis Survivors often left disfigured

Source: Times archive