The widow of a Wiltshire man is suing the Marquess of Bath for £200,000 after her husband died of an asbestos-related cancer having spent nine years spent working on the Longleat Estate.

Allan Keyse, 84, died in August 2019 following a short battle with mesothelioma, an incurable cancer of the tissues surrounding his lungs.

In an article published in the Daily Mail, widow Sally Keyse says Mr Keyse was exposed to asbestos when he worked for Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, at his vast Longleat estate between 1961 and 1970.

At an inquest in September 2019, the Wiltshire Coroner ruled it likely that Mr Keyse’s death had been caused by occupational asbestos exposure.

Speaking before his death, Mr Keyse recalled: “I remember on one particular occasion whilst working on an old barn that I had to handle asbestos roofing sheets for about 2-3 days.”

Now Mrs Keyse, 80, is taking legal action against Lord Ceawlin Thynn, the 8th marquess who inherited the title after his father died in April 2020. 

She told the Mail: “Allan and I were married in 1973 and we lived an incredibly happy life together with our son.

“Receiving the mesothelioma diagnosis had an immeasurable impact on Allan’s life and has left an unfillable void in both mine and my son’s life.

“He was always active and outgoing, but mesothelioma took that away from him. The simplest tasks became a chore.”

Anthony Waddington of the law firm Simpson Millar lodged the claim for Mrs Keyse. The Mail says it understoods the marquess intends to defend the claim. 

Longleat Estate has been approached for a comment but has so far failed to respond.

Mr Keyse worked as a maintenance man refurbishing and maintaining Longleat House, as well as old cottages and barns on the estate which contained asbestos and asbestos roofs. 

He was also exposed when he installed a new asbestos corrugated roof on a barn at Parsonage Farm on the estate, fetching, cutting and drilling large sheets of asbestos, the High Court claim says.

Mrs Keyse, of Westbury, says her husband knocked down some buildings containing asbestos, and was covered in asbestos dust when he demolished outbuildings without taking any precautions.

His work involved demolishing outbuildings and asbestos roofs fairly frequently until 1966, when he spent two years working on the main house, where he was not exposed to asbestos, it is alleged.

He continued to be exposed to asbestos at Longleat until about 1970, and was never warned about the dangers of asbestos, or given any respiratory protection such as a mask.

Mr Keyse first noticed symptoms of mesothelioma in 2018 when he became breathless walking up slopes while on holiday.

This was followed by back pain and he was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma in February 2019.

Fluid was drained from his lung, and he was given antibiotics to treat an infection, but he was not well enough for chemotherapy, and needed morphine to control his pain.

He died prematurely on August 7, 2019, losing around 5.65 years of life, Mrs Keyse’s claim says.

Mrs Keyse accuses the Marquess of Bath, and his later employers Whitley Marketing Services, of negligently exposing him to asbestos, and of exposing him to a major risk of fatal injury without giving him any protection or warning him about the risks he ran.