'I wasn't able to hold her hand while she died': Grieving families react to Number 10 party

• ITV News Central's Peter Bearne hears the reaction from bereaved families to the leaked email about a Downing Street party during lockdown.

A daughter in Derbyshire who was not allowed to say goodbye to her dying mother, and a wife in Nottinghamshire who could not visit her husband in his final moments, have reacted to an alleged Downing Street party during lockdown.

They believe they made difficult sacrifices in April 2020, while Number 10 staff were organising a garden party, in an email which has been exclusively revealed by ITV News.

Lyndsay Jackson from Bakewell in Derbyshire was unable to say her final goodbyes to her mother Sylvia, as she died alone in a residential home after contracting Coronavirus.

Meanwhile, at the same time in London, Downing Street staff were being told to "make the most of the lovely weather" and to "bring your own booze!"

ITV News understands staff were invited to a garden drinks party after what the Prime Minister's Principal Private Secretary Martin Reynolds described in his email, as an "incredibly busy period"

Ms Jackson told ITV News Central: "I wasn't able to hold her hand when she died, I arranged her funeral, which, there were seven of us present.

"I couldn't even hug my own brother in the carpark.

"Then I prepared, actually on the day of the party, for the funeral of my god mum who also died of covid and I couldn't even go to her funeral."

Speaking of the Prime Minister, Ms Jackson said: "This blatant lying, flouting of the rules, he's created himself, he has to go."

Elsewhere, at the same time in Bilsthorpe, Nottinghamshire, Julie Goodwin’s husband Charlie also caught the virus.

Mr Goodwin was an ambulance driver who died alone in hospital aged 61.

Mrs Goodwin, who was not allowed to visit him, has told ITV News Central: "People like Charlie who put themselves at the thick of the pandemic, they've just been laughed at basically and said we'll do what we want.

"100 invites to a bring your own booze party, when such as me couldn't have the grief support of my family, I had to be in the house on my own."

Mrs Goodwin added that she thinks the Prime Minister Boris Johnson should go after this, "because of what he's done."

The email sent by the Prime Minister's Principal Private Secretary Martin Reynolds to over a hundred Number 10 employees said:

"Hi all,

"After what has been an incredibly busy period we thought it would be nice to make the most of the lovely weather and have some socially distanced drinks in the No10 garden this evening.

"Please join us from 6pm and bring your own booze!"

ITV News understands that the drinks party on May 20 will form part of the ongoing investigations, with the inquiry due to report back this month.

Downing Street told ITV News they would not comment on the story due to the Sue Gray inquiry.