A SOUTHAMPTON shipbuilder died from asbestos exposure and smoking, a coroner’s court has heard.

William MacIntyre was 80 years old when he died in October last year.

A hearing in Winchester was told that Mr MacIntyre, of Hurstbourne Place, Weston, had been employed at Vosper Thornycroft in Woolston. He was also a life-long smoker, only stopping a year before his death.

“I record the cause of death as metastatic small cell carcinoma, asbestos exposure and cigarette smoking,” said deputy central Hampshire coroner, Simon Burge.