A FORMER factory worker died from cancer due to asbestos exposure more than 60 years after she left the job, an inquest heard.

Betty Bull, 86, of Michael’s Way, Fair Oak, was exposed to the deadly fibres while working as a machinist for cable manufacturer Pirelli from 1943 to 1951.

In a statement backing a compensation claim, dating to 2012 and read to the inquest on Monday, Mrs Bull said she was not protected from maintenance workers who would “rub up” against asbestos-cased piping at Pirelli’s factory in Leigh Road, Eastleigh.

She was further exposed during a decade of washing work clothes for her late husband, Albert, an electrician and later superintendent at Pirelli plants in Eastleigh and Bishopstoke.

Mrs Bull later developed mesothelioma, a cancer strongly linked to asbestos exposure, and died at Winchester hospital on February 6.

Coroner Grahame Short recorded a verdict of death due to industrial disease.