Retired Locks Heath electrician died from asbestos disease

A retired electrician who lived in Locks Heath died from an asbestos related disease which “obliterated” his lungs, an inquest heard.

Hector Penn, of Twiggs End Close, died from asbestos related disease mesothelioma, which formed a cancer in his lungs, after being exposed to asbestos on a daily basis working as an electrician.

The inquest in Portsmouth heard Mr Penn enjoyed a healthy lifestyle and going on holidays abroad, until shortly before his death. He suffered with chest pains and breathing problems and was admitted to Queen Alexandra Hospital.

He died at the hospital in Cosham on July 14 last year aged 80.

Mr Penn had worked with a number of electrical companies after starting work as an aircraft electrician in the Royal Navy in the 1940s, until he retired aged 65 when company A Buckett and Son Ltd went into liquidation in 1992.

The inquest heard that it was during his time at A Buckett and Son Ltd – a commercial company covering the areas between Basingstoke, Southampton and Brighton – that he had to remove asbestos lagging surrounding electrical equipment.

Coroner David Horsley read out a report by pathologist Dr Barbara Borek, which stated there was no asbestos found in Mr Penn’s body, but that his left pleural cavity of the lung was “obliterated by a tumour” from the direct exposure to asbestos.

The report stated his death was also due to secondary effects of heart problems that he suffered.

In a letter claiming legal damages from A Buckett and Son Ltd, which Mr Penn wrote before his death, he stated: “I would have inhaled the dust in the air and it would have settled on my clothes and hair. I would have inhaled it while attempting to brush it off my clothes and hair.”

Mr Penn’s letter added that he “was not supplied with breathing equipment or given warnings” about the harmful powder he was working with. The legal process is still ongoing.

The coroner’s verdict was that Mr Penn died from industrial disease.