SOLICITORS investigating a woman’s asbestos-related death are appealing for former colleagues who worked at mills across Bradford to get in touch.

Betty Patchett was 80 when she died in April last year from asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma.

Her family and its legal team believe she was exposed to the deadly dust from asbestos lagging in pipes during her early working days in the mills.

They are hoping an appeal in the Telegraph & Argus will help bring confirmation from former workmates who remember her working in those mills in the 1950s and 1960s and that there was asbestos in the buildings.

Mrs Patchett, whose former surname was Holder, was a teenager when she started working in the warping sheds at Salts Mill at Saltaire before other jobs with Stroud, Riley & Co - latterly Stroud Riley Drummond - at Manningham and Peel Bros.

They lived at 70 George Street while in Saltaire and her mother’s family ran a local joiner’s and undertaker’s. She had a sister called Madge and a brother called Irvin.

Mrs Patchett’s daughter Claire Ryan, who lives in Stokesley, Teesside, said her mum was a “stoic” character.

Mrs Patchett moved to Scarborough working as a dinner lady and then a home care assistant before retiring in 1990, having brought up her three children - Claire, Lynne and Louise - almost single-handedly.

She had been a fit and active person until eight years ago, said Mrs Ryan who contacted solicitor Charlie Bradley of York-based firm Corries after reading a newspaper article about claims for asbestos deaths.

Call Mr Bradley on 01904 527473 or email him at charlie.bradley@corries.co.uk

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