ELECTRICAL fitter Norman Gardiner never knew that the asbestos he worked with as a young man would later kill him.

Mr Gardiner came into contact with asbestos dust while working aboard naval ships for almost 30 years from the 1940s, when no one knew the dangers of it.

The 76-year-old, of Cranmore Close, Trowbridge, was referred to the Bristol Royal Infirmary in November last year with breathing problems.

An inquest in Chippenham on Wednesday, March 20, was told that exploratory surgery in December 2001 revealed a large cancerous tumour in his left lung.

Surgeons diagnosed malignant mesothelioma, commonly known as asbestosis.

Mr Gardiner deteriorated quickly and was transferred to the Dorothy House Hospice in Winsley on December 13. He died there four days later.

His daughter Jill Stenning, who lives in Bath, said her father spent more than 30 years working as an electrical fitter on the Royal Navy's ships, based in Portsmouth, Belfast and Glasgow.

That work involved exposure to loose asbestos at a time when the dangers were not known and workers did not wear protective clothing.

She told the inquest: "He was not directly involved in handling asbestos, but he talked about being on ships when pipes were being lagged by hand with asbestos without any protection."

From 1971 Mr Gardiner worked for the Ministry of Defence at Foxhill in Bath as an electrical costings officer. He retired in 1984.

In 1980 the MoD offered chest x-rays to all staff who might have been exposed to asbestos in the past. Mr Gardiner's was clear.

The inquest was told that asbestosis can take between 30 to 60 years to develop but once symptoms appear the disease takes hold very quickly, and death follows swiftly.

Assistant deputy coroner Nigel Brookes said it was clear Mr Gardiner died from mesothelioma, an industrial disease.

He said: "Malignant mesothelioma is generally associated with exposure to asbestos and the most frequent location in the body is the pleura which is where it was in Mr Gardiner.

"The exposure could have been at any time between 1940 and 1968.

"From the evidence it is clear that this mesothelioma was attributable to asbestos exposure which Mr Gardiner had during his employment."