A SWINDON woman died after she was exposed to her father’s asbestos-contaminated overalls as a child.

Anita Peters of Deben Crescent, Greenmeadow, died at Prospect Hospice in Wroughton on April 4 this year, an inquest in Swindon’s Civic Offices in Euclid Street heard on Tuesday.

The inquest was told 66-year-old Mrs Peters suffered from vascular dementia and developed chest problems in 2007, but a confirmed diagnosis was never made.

A post mortem by pathologist Lawrence John showed that Mrs Peters had pleural mesothelioma.

Giving evidence at the inquest, Mrs Peters’ husband John said he met his wife when she was 10 years old.

He said his wife spent her professional life working in accounts and never came into contact with asbestos through her own work.

Mr Peters said his father-in-law Albert Summers died of the asbestos-related disease mesothelioma in April 2006 after coming into contact with the substance during his time at a railway company as a younger man.

“He was a fitter,” said Mr Peters. “They didn’t have showers in those days – he would come home in his overalls and they would be dirty, covered in dust.”

The inquest heard Mr Peters was with his wife at Prospect Hospice when she died.

Wiltshire Coroner David Ridley said: “Mr Peters and a family friend took Anita for a walk around the garden.

“It was during that walk Anita collapsed and became unresponsive. She was pronounced dead.”

Recording a narrative verdict, Mr Ridley said: “Anita, in a balance of probability, was most likely to be involved in asbestos exposure down to her father’s contact with asbestos.

“Anita’s death was caused by industrial disease mesothelioma.”