A GRANDFATHER might have died because he built a prefabricated asbestos garage at his home 50 years ago, a coroner heard.

Alan Gunn, of Beyon Drive, Cam, could not recall ever having any other contact with asbestos – the deadly mineral which caused him to develop the lung cancer that killed him.

In a statement to the Gloucester inquest on Wednesday, his widow Gloria said: "The only exposure to asbestos he could recollect was putting up a prefabricated garage 50 years ago that was made of asbestos."

Gloucestershire coroner Alan Crickmore said because there was no evidence of Mr Gunn being exposed to asbestos at work, he could not record an industrial disease verdict.

Instead, he recorded an open verdict.

The inquest heard that Mr Gunn, 74, died on April 14 this year from pneumonia due to mesothelioma, the asbestos-related lung cancer.

The coroner said: "Malignant mesothelioma tends to arise as a result of asbestos exposure but we are all of us exposed to asbestos to a degree in our everyday lives.

"Only a very small number of asbestos fibres were found at the post-mortem on Mr Gunn.

"Mrs Gunn tried to think of where her husband may have been exposed to asbestos during his lifetime but could only think of when he erected an asbestos garage 50 years ago.

"It might well be that Mr Gunn did suffer exposure to asbestos fibres at that time, but that was a private enterprise and nothing to do with his employment.

"It may be that he was exposed during employment but that evidence is not capable of identification, perhaps because she has not known where to look."

Mrs Gunn had told the coroner she and her husband were married 51 years and had two children. He was in the printing business and later they had their own business.

He retired at 62 and was fit and active. He enjoyed walking.

But in September last year he started to complain of backache after a session on the golf range.

He was diagnosed in March this year with cancer of the lungs and liver which had spread to the spine and he died a month later.

Pathologist Dr Richard Bryan said post-mortem tests showed Mr Gunn had 12,550 mineral fibres in each gram of lung tissue. This was a "very low" count in comparative cases of people with mesothelioma.

Mrs Gunn told The Citizen her husband was a much-missed family man.

"He was a very happy-go-lucky fellow," said Mrs Gunn, 72. "He was always happy to help anyone."

He was a member of Dursley Rotary Club and set up Manor Printing Services in Kingswood, Wotton-under-Edge, in 1969.