A FORMER engineer died as a result of being exposed to asbestos when he was an apprentice.

Francis Brookfield served seven years as an apprentice at Foster, Yates and Thom, in Blackburn, where he lagged pipes with asbestos after completing his national service.

An inquest heard the 75-year-old would smear the asbestos on the pipes from a tub using his hands.

Workers were not given protective clothing, which Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley deputy coroner, Carolyn Singleton, said was typical at that time.

It was only decades later that Mr Brookfield's health started to deteriorate and doctors discovered a malignant mesothelioma tumour on his lung, which Mrs Singleton said was "strongly" associated with exposure to asbestos.

Despite his illness, Mr Brookfield was adamant he did not want to stay in hospital and would be visited at home by nurses.

He died at the Fernhurst Street home, in Blackburn, he had shared with his partner of 24 years, Alwyn Slater, in May this year.

A post mortem examination at Blackburn Royal Infirmary revealed the tumour surrounded his heart. He also had bronchopneumonia in his right lung.

Recording a verdict of death due to industrial disease, Mrs Singleton said Mr Brookfield worked in an era when the dangers of asbestos were not as apparent as today.

And she added: "What concerns me is what are doing now which in 40 or 50 years time may prove to be fatal.

"It astonishes me that something like this can remain dormant for all that time."