THE widow of a factory worker who died from exposure to chemicals could receive compensation if it is proved her husband's employer failed to provide adequate protection.

William Ribbons, of Trinity Close, Park South, came into daily contact with alpha and beta Naphthylamine chemicals in his job as a pulp mixer, mixing dyes for music speakers, at Cheney Manor-based Hawley Products.

Londoner Mr Ribbons had previously worked for the company now trading as Kurt Mueller UK in Tottenham, north London, between 1958 and 1961, but moved to Swindon with his wife Violet when the firm expanded its operation in the south west.

He stayed with Hawley until it moved to High Wycombe in 1970.

On Thursday at the inquest into the death of her husband, Mrs Ribbons told Wiltshire and Swindon assistant deputy coroner, Nigel Brookes, how he would come home caked in blue and mauve dye.

She said nothing was ever mentioned about protective masks or gloves. Mr Ribbons died of bladder cancer on December 1, 2002, aged 79.

The inquest heard that Mr Ribbons would feed raw sheets of pulp into beating machines before adding chemicals, including carbon black, which was a vital part of the production of stereo speaker cones.

Mr Brookes recorded a death by industrial disease a result of chemical exposure.

After the inquest industrial disease solicitor Brigitte Chandler of Old Town's Charles, Lucas and Marshall, said: "The next stage will be to get witness statements from former work colleagues, send the relevant information to medical consultants to confirm diagnosis and obtain evidence from health and safety experts about whether Mr Ribbons' employer knew at the relevant time what protection its employees should have been having.

"If the employer had no idea the chemicals were dangerous then obviously there is no claim we will have to look at the relevant knowledge at the time."

Mrs Chandler was the driving force behind the establishment of the Swindon and South West Asbestos Group, which was set up last year as a support group for friends and relatives of people who died of mesothelioma the so-called Swindon Disease.

The group next meets on Thursday, April 29 in the Upper Rooms, Regent Street, from 2pm.

Call 01793 511055 for more information.

Giles Sheldrick