A JOB sweeping up asbestos more than 50 years ago could have contributed to the death of a Burnley man, an inquest heard.

Aged just 15, John Parton’s role at Carson’s Mill in Barnoldswick involved him filling tubefuls of the substance, Burnley Coroner’s Court was told.

He never worked with the substance again, later joining the Army.

But earlier this year Mr Parton, 68, of Mitella Street, developed a malignant tumour in his lung.

Consultant pathologist Dr Walid Salman said as well as the tumour there was evidence of pulmonary fibrosis, where the lung tissue begins to die.

His wife Enid Parton said although the couple smoked, they gave up together around 20 years ago.

Mr Parton had been complanining of shortness of breath, shortly before his death last May.

Recording an industrial disease verdict, East Lancashire coroner Richard Taylor said he considered the exposure to asbestos may have been a contributory factor.