FOR years Joan Dell stitched asbestos linings into tea cosies for a London dressmakers, unaware of the terrible health hazard she was in.

Because more than 40 years after the seamstress finished her job at the Bond Street dressmakers she developed Mesothelioma – an aggresive cancer mainly caused by asbestos exposure.An inquest held at Peterborough Town Hall, in Bridge Street, yesterday, ruled that the 74 year old grandmother had died from an industrial disease.Today her widowed husband, James told of the common use of the deadly asbestos in post-war Britain, where it became so popular because of its excellent insulating qualities.James Dell (73) of Deerpark Road, Langtoft, Market Deeping, said his wife worked at the dressmakers after she left school.As part of her role she made tea cosies for sale at shops around the capital where, to increase the efficiency of the cosies, workers would stitch asbestos linings into the bottom. But the process involved drilling holes into the fibre, throwing deadly dust into the air.Mr Dell said: "Asbestos was used all the time after the war, right up until people discovered it was dangerous. I myself worked in the building trade for many years and I've had exposure to asbestos as well."So many people of my age and younger have worked side by side every day with this material."The inquest heard how Mrs Dell visited her doctor late last year with a troublesome cough, which she had suffered from for about two weeks.After various tests and an eventual biopsy at Papworth Hospital, in Cambridge, doctors told the grandmother she was suffering from cancer, and she began radiotherapy treatments, finishing in April this year.But she died on June 28 after spending her final weeks in the Sue Ryder Thorpe Hall Hospice in Longthorpe, Peterborough.Mrs Dell leaves her husband and their three children David (46), Barry (49) and Kathleen (51) and nine grandchildren.Coroner Gordon Ryall said: "Asbestos was a very much used material. What we need to appreciate is that the people who die represent a very minute percentage of those who have been exposed."