Retired civil servant’s death was asbestos related

Posted on June 7, 2010 with 3 Comments

The Observer Reported that a former civil servant died of lung disease after being exposed to deadly asbestos throughout his working life.

Derek Peerless, 81, of Turkey Road, Bexhill, worked for the Army from the late 1940s onwards.

An inquest into his death last Wednesday at Hastings Magistrates Court found that he had mesothelioma in his lungs, a cancer caused by asbestos fibres.

Dr Mark Boxer, Conquest pathologist who carried out the post-mortem examination, said Mr Peerless had “heavy exposure” to the fibres during his working life.

The pensioner was a clerk to the Army Records Office in Hastings in 1943 and was in the Royal Army Ordinance Corps before being demobbed in 1948.

He was based in Germany in 1966 and from 1970 to 1972 was a sales supplier for the Ministry of Defence.

But there was no evidence to say where Mr Peerless could have been exposed to the asbestos.

Consequently coroner Alan Craze recorded an open verdict.

He said: “I cannot give a verdict of death by industrial disease but I think this is what happened as he had more than an average exposure to asbestos. But the evidence to prove this is not available.”

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