A former factory worker who developed an asbestos-related disease has won a significant sum in compensation.

Fred Penn, now 73, worked for a boiler manufacturer in Worcester for 29 years before his retirement in 2004. During the 1970s, he regularly handled sheets of asbestos while assembling wall-mounted boilers. The environment in which he worked was often thick with asbestos dust.

Mr Penn was neither provided with any protective equipment nor warned about the danger asbestos posed to his health, even though the risks associated with working with asbestos were known about by this time.

In 2012, he began to suffer ill health and was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a deadly cancer of the lining of the lungs caused by inhalation of asbestos fibres. The disease is usually at an advanced stage by the time symptoms appear, which is normally more than 20 years after exposure, and the prognosis for sufferers remains poor.

Mr Penn brought a claim against his former employer and won an undisclosed, but significant, amount in damages. The settlement gives him the comfort of knowing that his wife will be provided for after his death.

The Health and Safety Executive provides guidance on asbestos health and safety on its website.