The hospital trust at the centre of the C-diff superbug has vowed to fight an attempt by its former chief executive to secure a £250,000 pay-off.

Rose Gibb, the disgraced hospitals boss who presided over one of the worst superbug outbreaks is suing the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust for more than £250,000.

She stepped down as chief executive last October, following a Healthcare Commission investigation into C-diff infections which claimed 90 lives in two years, blamed on shocking hygiene failures.

In papers lodged with the High Court Miss Gibb is demanding breach of contract damages for around £75,000 and compensation thought to be in the region of £175,000.

But today a trust spokesman said: "The trust intends to vigorously defend the claims brought against it."

Miss Gibb has already survived an attempt by Health Secretary Alan Johnson to block a severance being paid to her.

In January the trust offered a payment of £75,000, representing six months’ pay, which was the legal minimum it could offer.

But it is understood that Miss Gibb was negotiating her pay-off right up until the moment she stepped down from her £150,000 job in early October.