The family of a mum-of-five who died because she washed her husband's asbestos-covered overalls are calling for a change in the law so that deaths like hers can be classed as 'industrial.'

Maureen Gardiner's family spoke out after an inquest in Gloucester recorded a verdict of accidental death on the 76 year old.

Workers who suffer the terminal lung cancer mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos are classed as victims of industrial disease - with compensation payable to their families.

But, as Gloucestershire coroner Alan Crickmore explained, people in Mrs Gardiner's position who contract the disease from exposure to their husband's clothes are not deemed to have died from an industrial disease because they were not working with the deadly mineral themselves, Mrs Gardiner's son Alan said after the inquest "I feel very strongly that this is wrong and that the verdict in cases like mum's should be industrial disease.

"It was as a direct result of dad working with asbestos that she died so the verdict should be the same so that compensation is automatic instead of having to be fought for in the courts."

He said Mrs Gardiner's family are, however, taking legal advice with a view to making a compensation claim.

Mrs Gardiner, of Frithwood Park, Brownshill, nr Stroud, died on Christmas Day last year in the Sue Ryder hospice at Leckhampton, Cheltenham.

Her husband, Gerald, said in a statement to the inquest that he had worked for Fibrecrete at Chalford, nr Stroud, from 1955 to 1967 and would go home with his clothing covered in asbestos dust.

"I used to sort asbestos fibre and mix it before crushing," he stated. "It used to get everywhere.

"My wife would have come into contact with asbestos when she was washing my clothes. She used to keep it separate from the rest of the family clothing because it was so dusty.

"She would shake it before, during and after washing."

Mrs Gardiner was diagnosed with mesothelioma - a form of lung cancer whose only known cause is asbestos exposure - in October 2006.

She was transferred from hospital to the Sue Ryder home on 21st December last year and died in the early hours of Christmas morning.

The inquest heard that there was no likelihood of Mrs Gardiner having come into contact with asbestos in her own working life with a ring binder firm, in the Aston Down airfield canteen and as an embroiderer.

Pathologist Dr Richard Bryan confirmed that at post mortem he found she had a malignant mesothelioma. Her lungs were found to contain 195,840 fibres of asbestos per gram of dry tissue - a high and 'significant' reading.

The coroner said he was 'absolutely sure' that Mrs Gardiner's shaking of her husband's clothes to get rid of the asbestos dust was what caused her to develop the disease.

"But industrial disease can only be the verdict if it has arisen during and because of the employment of the deceased," he said "In this case she undoubtedly contracted what is an industrial disease but the cause of that was her husband's employment and not hers."

Verdict: Accidental death.