A RETIRED electrician died of cancer after coming into contact with asbestos in his working life.

Winchester Coroner’s Court heard how Robert Payne, from Testwood Lane in Totton, worked at a tar distillery in Totton in the 1960s.

At the time, Mr Payne, who died aged 69, worked in a boiler room which had a boiler and pipes lagged with asbestos.

One of his jobs was to install copper cables which involved mixing asbestos powder.

In in a past statement he said he would spend a lot of time with laggers who were covered in asbestos.

In 1967 he started working in a factory where he also came into contact with the substance.

Mr Payne developed a cough which was later diagnosed as mesothelioma in October 2014. He later died at Countess Mountbatten Hospice on January 22.

Senior coroner Grahame Short recorded a death due to industrial disease.