A PENSIONER'S death was probably the result of exposure to asbestos during his wartime bomb disposal work, an inquest heard yesterday.

George Alexander Gardiner, 81, of Hilton Road, Barnard Castle, died in March at Darlington Memorial Hospital.

His daughter, Christine Turner, told an inquest at Bishop Auckland Magistrates Court her father worked in bomb disposal during war, and then at pharmaceuticals firm Glaxo, in Barnard Castle, as a despatch foreman.

Dr Ceri Williams, consultant pathologist at Darlington Memorial Hospital, said there had been a large malignant tumour on the right side of Mr Gardiner's chest, containing asbestos fibres.

Coroner Colin Penna recorded a verdict of death caused by industrial disease.