A teacher died of cancer after being exposed to asbestos while at work, an inquest has heard.

Lisa Goldsworthy, 49, died on March 29 at the Pilgrims Hospice in Canterbury where she had been receiving palliative care.

The mum, who was born in Whitstable and lived in Cromwell Road before her death, had suffered from mesothelioma - a type of cancer that develops in the lining that covers the outer surface of some of the body's organs, which is usually linked to asbestos exposure.

This afternoon an inquest at Canterbury Coroners Court heard how Ms Goldsworthy underwent multiple operations as well as chemotherapy and immunotherapy, after she was diagnosed with the illness in 2017.

In a statement written before her death, Ms Goldsworthy said she believed she came into contact with asbestos at the "gloomy" offices of bank firm Kleinwort Benson in Fenchurch Street, London - where she worked from 1995 until 2004.

She described building work that was carried out in the premises around 1996 - while she and her colleagues continued to work.

"I remember the office was old and was undergoing a lot of modernisation works to bring it up to more modern standards," she said in her statement, which was read before the court today.

'We came into work most days with a layer of dust on our tables and telephones' - Lisa Goldsworthy

"There was a lot of renovation going on around us. The work included the removal of partitions in the building. I did see partition walls being removed, and I frequently saw wires hanging out from the ceiling.

"This went on for a number of months. We were not moved into a different premises. We came into work most days with a layer of dust on our tables and telephones.

"The contractors doing this installed an opaque curtain to try to lower the amount of dust."

Mrs Goldsworthy said she and her colleagues would use their hands or cloths to wipe away the layer of debris that coated the office.

"We'd go to get some files out of the cupboard and they'd also be contaminated with dust," she said.

She also described seeing workmen getting into the building's lifts still wearing their dust-covered overalls.

"The works I saw certainly involved asbestos," she said. "I was alerted to the extensive use of asbestos from an associate who informed me the works removed thousands of tonnes of asbestos from the building.

"It was this work which I consider to be the most likely source of asbestos contamination, and the source of my mesothelioma."

Mrs Goldsworthy said it was also possible she could have encountered asbestos during her brief employment at Kent and Canterbury Hospital, where she remembered seeing "cream coloured pipes with a plaster texture" in the basement - but added she felt this to be a less likely cause.

In August last year Mrs Goldsworthy - who previously worked at St Alphege Infant School in Whitstable - was referred to Pilgrims Hospice by her GP.

Dr Rachel Hogg, who treated her at the hospice, said that Mrs Goldsworthy was suffering with pain, breathlessness and anxiety when she was admitted.

She was treated with medication, and received counselling and breathlessness classes.

But after her condition deteriorated, Dr Hogg said: "Lisa made it clear her wishes were for symptom control rather than prolonging her life.

"She died peacefully with her family at her side on March 29."

At the inquest this afternoon, coroner James Dillon recorded a conclusion of "industrial disease", which he said Mrs Goldsworthy contracted after being "exposed to asbestos in an office environment during her working life."

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