THE cancer which killed Winifred Walsh had nothing to do with her work in a slipper factory or the time she spent in a former gas mask factory in Blackburn, an inquest heard.

Mrs Walsh died of lung cancer and an inquest had been held because of her former employment. Husband Melville Walsh told the inquest that his wife worked at Newman's slipper factory in Stancliffe Street before moving to a factory in Garden Street which had formerly been used for the manufacture of gas masks.

He said he could always tell what colour slipper his wife had been working with that day because of the dust around her nostrils when she got home.

Pathologist Dr Richard Presott said his investigations had centred on the possibility of slipper dust or asbestos from the gas mask factory playing a part in Mrs Walsh's death but that had not been the case. He found a large tumour which had invaded her right lung.

Deputy coroner recorded a verdict of natural causes on Mrs Walsh, 72, of Lynthorpe Road, Blackburn, who worked as a domestic supervisor at Blackburn Royal Infirmary after leaving Newman's in 1977 until her retirement.