METAL worker Brian Edwards was diagnosed with mesothelioma in January 1999 and started his compensation claim the following month to ensure he provided for his wife, Gill and their two children, aged 11 and 15.

The 59-year-old died on June 4, only six months after the condition was confirmed.

Last night, at the family home in Ingleby Barwick, Teesside, Mrs Edwards said the compensation would not bring her children's father back, but it would mean someone had accepted responsibility for his death.

"It's a disgrace. No one is prepared to say 'I'm really sorry'," she said.

"If the three judges had witnessed the way my husband had died, they would not have made that ruling."

Mr Edwards started work at Rolls-Royce in Derby when he was 15 and went on to work as an engineer on gas pipelines and oil rigs around the world.

His widow recalled her husband ripping up asbestos with his bare hands at Rolls-Royce. But the family and their solicitors believe he was exposed to asbestos in both his jobs.

Years later, and battling against the terminal illness, the devoted father refused to give up work until six weeks before his death.

"I will never give up. I will go to every judge and Tony Blair and carry on until someone says 'I'm sorry'," Mrs Edwards said.