A KARATE ace and his family saw their Turkish holiday ruined by salmonella.

Honey Doyland, three, spent six days in hospital, and lost a fifth of her body weight, after she and her six-year-old brother, Lewis, got food poisoning.

Their friends, Jamie and Alfie Walsh, were also hit.

Former England karate international Sean Doyland, 40, and his wife, Karen, who booked their trip together with Jamie and Alfie’s parents, Paul and Lisa, are blaming food at their resort. But travel company First Choice said the link was “not proven”.

The Doylands, from High Woods, Colchester, flew to the Sarigerme resort, on August 3, with Honey, Lewis, and their eldest son, Oliver, 15, and the Walshes.

Five days in, Honey fell ill, followed by Lewis, Mr and Mrs Walsh, Jamie and Alfie.

When they got back to England, Honey was still poorly.

Her parents took her to the doctor, but a couple of days later she was no better and was admitted to Colchester General Hospital.

Tests showed she had cryptosporidium – which causes diarrhoea – and salmonella in her stools, and salmonella-typhus in her blood.

The other affected children were also found to have salmonella and cryptosporidium.

Mrs Doyland, 42, said: “The resort has loads of places to eat. There was no need to go anywhere else, and we didn’t. As far as I can see, the kids must have picked up the bug there, but First Choice don’t seem to want to acknowledge it.”

First Choice spokesman Louise Evans said: “We have seen evidence a small number of people who stayed at Sarigerme this summer have since been diagnosed with salmonella.

“The source of these illnesses has not been proven to have originated from this hotel.

“Our independent health and hygiene consultants, IGI, tell us the level and sporadic pattern of the recent sickness does not point to any particular source and is not classified as an outbreak.”

She added IGI would be carrying out a “targeted and detailed” study to double check for any problems.