MYSTERY surrounds the death of a 71-year-old retired cleaner who had never knowingly come into contact with asbestos, but died from a cancer usually caused by the deadly mineral.

Pauline Verity of Bradford Road, Keighley, worked at a butcher’s making sausages, then at Bingley’s Andertons Engineering making fastening clips before spending more than 20 years at Morton Close Nursing Home in Crossflatts. The final two years of her working life were as a cleaner at Trinity All Saints in Bingley.

Yesterday, assistant Bradford coroner Mary Burke recorded an open conclusion into Mrs Verity’s death because there was no proof the divorcee had ever been exposed to levels of asbestos which could have caused her mesothelioma.

The inquest heard how, after Mrs Verity’s diagnosis in 2012, she told her lifetime partner, Margaret Randall, and medical experts she could not recall coming into contact with asbestos.

“It’s correct to say an individual may not have known there had been exposure to asbestos but they may have previously not been aware of all the circumstances. It’s a condition which can be triggered decades after such exposure,” said Ms Burke.

“When she [Mrs Verity] was diagnosed she was asked if she was aware of any exposure but couldn’t recall any. It doesn’t mean she had not been exposed to asbestos. There is recognised in medical literature a view that there is a small percentage of cases that may be naturally occurring. That may be the case for Mrs Verity but I can’t be sure so I’m recording an open conclusion into her death.”

Mrs Verity, whose son and granddaughter were with her when she died at home on May 23, had seen her GP about shortness of breath.

Until falling ill she had been fit enough to walk her dogs for hours, the inquest was told, but doctors had told her after the diagnosis that it was unlikely she would reach her 70th birthday.

Ms Burke said in the vast majority of mesothelioma cases, asbestos exposure was the only known cause of the terminal condition and it usually affected people who worked with the substance many years before its dangers were known.

Mrs Verity had three bouts of chemotherapy but had got to the stage when she did not want more treatment, the inquest was also told.

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops mainly in the lining of the lungs. More than 2,600 people are diagnosed with the condition each year in the UK, with most cases diagnosed in people aged 60 to 80.