A MAN from Welwyn Garden City was killed by a disease contracted through a lifetime of working with asbestos, an inquest was told on Thursday, October 18.

Mr Alan Jones told Hitchin Coroner's Court that his father Alfred, 78, who lived in Hardings with his wife Winnifred, had spent most of his career in the ship repair industry, working in boiler rooms.

He said: "He worked with asbestos in the lagging of pipes.

"I can remember him coming in sometimes and saying how bad the conditions were.

"The people working the lagging used to work inside a sheet. He didn't wear anything.

"They don't do that any more."

In a statement read to to the inquest, his GP, Dr A McGee of Peartree Surgery, said that after Mr Jones complained of shortness of breath in January, a chest X-ray showed a diffusion on the right lung.

"On March 23 it was clear he was developing further symptoms," he said.

"In particular he had lost his appetite."

A telescopic probe in the chest was planned, but the ex-national serviceman was admitted to the QEII Hospital in Welwyn Garden City on April 3 with stomach bleeding and had a fatal cardiac arrest on April 9.

Consultant pathologist Dr Al-Izzi said a postmortem showed Mr Jones had died of mesothelioma cancer of the lining of the lung.

He said: "It is strongly related to asbestos.

"The exposure may be 20 or 30 years in the past. There is no effective treatment.

"The right lung weighed almost double the normal weight.

"There was a massive tumour. It had infiltrated the diaphragm and into the abdominal cavity."

The postmortem had also revealed a tiny curly asbestos particle inside Mr Jones.

Dr Al-Izzi explained that this was more dangerous than a straight fibre, as it was harder to cough up.

Mrs Jones, who last saw her husband on April 7, had a phone call on the morning of April 9 to say he had died.

Recording a verdict of death due to industrial disease, coroner Dr John Vick said he was in no doubt Mr Jones' illness "was caused by occupational exposure to asbestos".

October 26, 2001 15:07