A MAINTENANCE engineer from Worcester died of industrial disease after a decade of "major exposure" to asbestos.

Robert Douglas, of Connaught Close, St Peter's, spent 10 years repairing boilers and fixing pipes, between the ages of 16 and 26, an inquest heard yesterday.

More than three decades later the 57-year-old was diagnosed with mesothelioma - a cancer of the lining of the lungs, commonly caused by exposure to asbestos.

Yesterday, Victor Round, sitting at Worcestershire County Coroner's Court, in Bewdley Road, Stourport-on-Severn, read a statement from Mr Douglas, written earlier this year.

"I used to work on pipes above head height and fine dust would fall off and get caught in my eyebrows and facial hair," the statement said. It continued: "The materials were asbestos-based and it was impossible to avoid it."

Mr Douglas died at Worcestershire Royal Hospital on Saturday, July 12, and the pathologist's report noted his "left pleural cavity was obliterated by thick white trauma".

"It has been very well proved that he suffered major exposure to asbestos," said Mr Round.

"The pathologist found traces of asbestos and I can therefore say he died of industrial disease."