Judges in High Court consider compensation amount for widow of maintenance worker at Buckingham Palace.

The widow of a Buckingham Palace worker is set to receive a six-figure payout after her husband died from asbestos related cancer.

Maintenance worker John Costello died aged 58 after he contracted mesothelioma - a condition caused by exposure to the lethal substance. Judges at the High Court were today ruling on the exact amount his wife will receive in compensation.

Costello worked as a maintenance worker at the Palace for 22 years, until he left in 1992. He later fell ill and died in September 2001. He was never given a mask to wear and was not warned of the dangers of working with asbestos.

Mrs Costello, 59, was forced to give up her own job as a childminder to care for her husband. She said: “John loved his job but we never thought it would eventually kill him.”

It is feared others who worked at the Palace in the 1970s and 1980s may also be affected, as another worker has since died from an asbestos-related disease.