AN 81-YEAR-OLD Weston man died as a result of his work with asbestos, an inquest heard.

Kenneth Wilton, who lived in Dunster Crescent with his wife, died on November 3 at 5.30am.

Mr Wilton, who was born in Suffolk, but moved to the area in the 1960s, was a retired carpenter.

At the inquest at Flax Bourton Coroners Court this week, it was established he died after a lifetime of exposure to the dangerous material asbestos.

He died at Weston Hospicecare just months after being diagnosed with mesothelioma – a rare form of cancer caused by inhaling asbestos fibres.

Mr Wilton began working as a carpenter in 1946, and continued in this profession until he retired.

In a statement written before he died, Mr Wilton said: “I had to use hand tools to cut and fix the asbestos panels by hand. I could not help inhaling the asbestos fibres which were on my hands, clothes and tools.”

Throughout his career, except during a stint in the RAF, he worked closely with the hazardous substance.

The coroner, Terence Moore, said: “Mr Wilton himself says he was exposed to asbestos dust throughout the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and into the early 1970s, which is a long and quite intensive exposure.”

His death was recorded as industrial disease.