INQUESTS have heard how the devastating asbestos timebomb has claimed another three lives.

Two former York Carriageworks employees, Edward Horsman and Harold Abbott, both contracted the asbestos-related disease mesothelioma after being repeatedly exposed to the deadly dust at the factory.

Derek Longley, who died of the same disease, was thought to have breathed in the dust during his work as a plumber.

The York inquests were told that Mr Horsman, of Langholme Drive, off Boroughbridge Road, who died aged 78, started work as an apprentice at the works in Holgate Road in 1947, and worked there for almost four decades.

An East Sussex woman whose husband died from exposure to asbestos has won substantial damages from a Twickenham building firm.

The widow from Battle has been awarded £160,000 in compensation following her husband’s death from mesothelioma.

Brenda Clark’s husband was exposed to asbestos when he was working as a ceiling fixer for the Anderson Construction Company.

James Clark fitted asbestos tiles at Victoria underground station, Standard Telephone Cables Company and at the Lister Hospital, Stevenage.

His work involved drilling holes into asbestos tiles.

A Carlisle plumber wrote a disturbing account of how, during his early working life, he was routinely exposed to the asbestos dust which ultimately caused his death.

David Irwin was just 60 when he died in July after contracting the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma. He is the latest in a growing number of Cumbrians who have died because they were exposed to the deadly material.

Recalling his work on a council estate in Woodhouse, Whitehaven, he wrote: “We were on site for three to four weeks, repairing and replacing [asbestos] gutters and downspouts.

“We used a handsaw to cut down damaged or broken gutters and replaced them.

“I could not escape the dust. There was dust on my hands as we handled them and when we collected broken pieces and swept up.”