THE family of a zookeeper who was mauled to death when a tiger walked through an open door say they still have unanswered questions following an inquest into her death.

Sarah McClay, 24, who was originally from Glasgow, was pounced on in the keepers' corridor of the tiger house at South Lakes Wild Animal Park in Cumbria before being dragged into a den and then to an outside enclosure.

Male tiger Padang, which was meant to never have access to the corridor, walked straight through a door to where Miss McClay was as she carried out her cleaning and feeding duties in the tiger house at the park.

An inquest jury in Kendal ruled in a narrative verdict that Padang got to Miss McClay by entering two open internal sliding gates within the house and then an open door that led on to the corridor.

Systems were in place at the park in Dalton-in-Furness to ensure that animals and keepers remained apart at all times through indoor and outdoor compartments connected by lockable self-closing doors.

But when staff members rushed in after the attack on May 24 last year they found the door to one of the tigers' dens ajar and not locked.

Two internal sliding gates were also open which allowed Padang and his female companion, Alisha, to move in and out of a light den and a dark den to the outside enclosure.

The court heard that a bolt on the top of the dark den door - which had been open immediately before the attack - was found to be defective when the scene was examined in the hours following her death, but it could not be said when the damage occurred.

An environmental health officer for the local authority told the jury that the top spring-loaded bolt could not be held back and it would bang against the frame when it tried to close, leaving a gap of between 20mm and 25mm.

The jury found that one or more of the bolts on that door extended, preventing it from closing into the frame.

South Cumbria coroner Ian Smith told jurors that their task was not to try and apportion any blame for Miss McClay's death, but to determine the facts.

A separate criminal health and safety at work investigation is being held by Barrow Borough Council, which licenses the park.

Following the hearing, Miss McClay's boyfriend, David Shaw, 25, said he had a theory as to why the door to the corridor was open but was not willing to share it at this stage.

He said: "We will see how things move forward. We are aware that the council in Barrow are still conducting their investigation and it would be wrong of us to say anything before they have concluded that investigation.

"There are always questions we would like answered. We know we will not be able to answer some of them ever but there is the chance that some answers may come out in the investigation in time."