A MAN who worked on the building of Blacon’s high-rise flats died from the effects of asbestos exposure, an inquest heard.
Decades after George Arthur Griffiths worked as a labourer when the flats were built in the early 1960s, he contracted mesothelioma, a lung cancer resulting from exposure to asbestos.
The 67-year-old was found dead in bed at the home he shared with his sister in Rhuddlan Road, Blacon on August 16 last year, having suffered from increased shortness of breath in previous months.
The inquest, held at Chester Civil Justice Centre, heard how Mr Griffiths, originally from Anglesey, had worked in the building trade for most of his life.
During his time working on the Blacon flats, he had come into contact with blue asbestos sheets on a number of occasions.
His sister Freda McHugh told how he had always appeared fit and well and ‘always on the go’ but in the months leading up to his death he had noticeably lost weight and didn’t go out as much.
Verdict: industrial disease caused by malignant mesothelioma.
