An inquest has held that Ellen Paddock had died accidentally after being exposed to falling asbestos ash when she was only 7 years old.

When the army depot at Donnington, Shropshire set alight in 1983 Ellen played in the resulting asbestos ash. She believed it was snowflakes raining down from the sky. Little could she have known at the time that this innocent fun would lead to her untimely death at the young age of 31. She was a mother of three young daughters.

Ellen, speaking in July 2007 stated: ‘That is the hardest part – knowing you’re going to die and having your whole life taken away from you before you have even had chance to live it’. In November 2007 she sadly lost her fight against mesothelioma, a cancer that can take years to develop and is associated with asbestos exposure.

What is particularly gaulling is that in 1977 the Army Fire Service had given recommendations on the safety of the buildings and these recommendations had been ignored. The army did not do enough to prevent the fire because changes to their massive storage depot were ruled out as ‘expensive’ and ‘inconvenient’. The BBC’s Inside Out programme reveals confidential papers that show that the Ministry of Defence was explicitly warned its building was not fire-safe. The documents show that it would have been inconvenient to divide the massive depot into a series of compartments. This could have slowed down the spread of a fire. There was some asbestos element in the smoke from the fire because of the asbestos content of the roofing material.

It is inevitable that those who worked and lived near the army depot may worry that they have been affected too. Ellen’s sister Sharon Bush had played with her sister in the ashes on the day of the fire, ‘All the kids were in it. People have got to know about this and how dangerous this is’ she said.

Paul Passant who helped fight the fire said: ‘I attended the fire at the MoD Central Ordinance Depot in Donnington. Many of us fighting the fire had no breathing apparatus, as there were many of us. I wonder how many more families will suffer like Ellen’s, it (asbestos) was hanging in the air in large blobs all around us’.

Ellen’s mum, Mary Bush said that the family would be continuing with legal proceedings that Ellen had started. She said ‘Ellen would have wanted us to. She lost all of those years of her life that she could have had for her and her girls’.

In a statement the MoD told the BBC that it had learned lessons from the “tragic accident”.

 To view the BBC’s Inside Out programme please see
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00dqxsx/

About John Pickering and Partners LLP- Specialist mesothelioma compensation solicitors.

John Pickering and Partners LLP is a niche legal practice that has represented Claimants in the leading asbestos "test cases" in the last ten years. The firm represented Sylvia Barker in Barker v Corus (UK) Plc, a case that highlighted the legal tactics of employers and insurers trying to cut back their compensation liabilities to mesothelioma sufferers, and which prompted the amendment of the Compensation Act 2006 to ensure full compensation for mesothelioma claims. The firm represented two of the three Claimants in the Fairchild appeal, in which the insurance industry tried unsuccessfully to block compensation altogether for mesothelioma sufferers unable to identify which of two or more sources of asbestos exposure had caused their illness.

The firm represented Alice Jefferson, a mesothelioma sufferer, whose illness and compensation claim against Cape Asbestos were featured in the important documentary "Alice: A Fight For Life."   Shown by Yorkshire Television in July 1982, the programme was an important catalyst for legal change and public awareness of the plight of the victims of asbestos.

If you need advice about an asbestos related illness, contact us now for information about making a claim for compensation

Ellen Butler – Trainee Solicitor
John Pickering and Partners LLP
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