PHILLIP Stanton died from an industrial disease after working with asbestos in the construction industry, a Gloucester inquest has ruled.

The former labourer and handyman worked for Ford and Weston and Hyett Builders, as well as many other local companies, Gloucestershire deputy coroner David Dooley was told.

Mr Stanton, 72, lived with his wife Pamela, in High Street, Gloucester, and died there on March 26 this year.

Mrs Stanton said her husband had worked at Gloster Saro in Brockworth when Hyett Builders had been carrying out work there.

"He said he had to go into a boiler room where other men were wearing suits and masks to remove asbestos after the company closed, but he was not given any protection," she said.

"He also worked at Gloucester Docks in buildings where there were great clouds of dust and the debris had to be swept down from floor to floor.

"He retired at 69 and was very active. He was still riding his bike until he started having breathing problems.

"He went to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital where they found he had fluid on his lungs. He was referred to Bristol Royal Infirmary and they found he had mesothelioma."

The deputy coroner said that Gloster Saro made firefighting equipment, so there was likely to have been asbestos there.

In a statement made to his solicitors before he died, Mr Stanton said until the diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma, he had no previous chest illnesses and was relatively fit for his age enjoying a wide variety of activities.

He detailed all the places he had worked in his life and the deputy coroner thought he would almost certainly have come into contact with asbestos in many of them.

Mr Stanton said he had been aware of the dangers of asbestos exposure from the 1980s.

He remembered working with powdery asbestos when contractors were removing it but he had to go into the same boiler room with nothing but a mask.

Pathologist Dr John McCarthy said the malignant mesothelioma (cancer) had affected one lung and the heart.

Microscopic examination showed asbestosis damage in the lung and a level of asbestos fibres in a range of results where mesothelioma could result.

He added that Mr Stanton had died of bronchial pneumonia caused by the mesothelioma. and the death was related to asbestos exposure.

"Every case of this type has been exposed to asbestos in my experience and here there is unequivocal evidence in his working history over 50 years.

Summing up, Mr Dooley said there was clear occupational contact with asbestos and he could sensibly take it into account.

Therefore, he said the appropriate verdict was that Mr Stanton died from an industrial disease.