Inquest finds asbestos-related cancer cause of Terrington St Clement man's death

A man from Terrington St Clement died from an asbestos-related cancer, an inquest has heard.

Lynn’s Coroners’ Court heard on Friday that Robert Hannay, 68, died at Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital on June 15 after being diagnosed with mesothelioma earlier this year.

In a statement read to the court following his diagnosis, Mr Hannay said he had worked on a number of farms where he was exposed to asbestos from the 1960s to the 1990s.

From 1994 onwards, he worked as a self-employed fencing contractor.

In his statement, Mr Hannay said: “I have no desire to retire in the near future. If not for my illness I would have continued to work.”

The court heard that Mr Hannay was diagnosed with mesothelioma after a number of health complications.

By June 6, his doctor Imran Ahmed said Mr Hannay was “palliative” and he died at the QEH on June 15.

Assistant coroner for Norfolk Johanna Thompson reached a conclusion that Mr Hannay died of an industrial disease, mesothelioma, with contributing factors of a right pleural empyema, deep vein thrombosis and type two diabetes.