David Carter (also known as Andy Carter to his friends) died a painful death in April 2005 after developing mesothelioma – a cancer brought on by contact with asbestos.

Mr Carter was only 59 years old when he died and was exposed to the deadly asbestos while working for W L Miller & Sons Limited in Poole.

With the help of Thompsons, Linda Carter, his widow is trying to trace her late husbands’ co-workers.

W L Miller & Sons Limited

Mr Carter worked at Millers, which was a large meat production plant from 1968 until 1991. When he first started work, he was employed as a Trainee Charge-Hand; however, he worked hard and by the time he left the company, he was a Department Production Manager.

While Mr Carter was employed by Millers, approximately 1000 other people worked there in the various departments including a Pig Slaughter House, Bi-Products, Quality Control, A 3 Department and Cooked and Cured Meats (which eventually split into two separate departments called Cooked Meats and Cured Meats).

Exposed to asbestos at work

Before he died, Mr Carter recalled that several trainees all started to work at the factory at the same time. One of the trainees developed serious breathing difficulties and eventually died as a result of an asbestos related disease.

The WL Miller & Sons factory was inside an old building which had seen a lot of wear and tear and it required a lot of maintenance work carried out on it.

The pipes inside the building were coated with asbestos lagging, which over time disintegrated and started to fall off. The maintenance department would sometimes replace the lagging and would sometimes tape it back together. The damaged lagging resulted is asbestos fibres being present in the air inside the factory.