An expert investigator today said he believed an eroded pipe caused a boiler explosion at a Shropshire factory which killed a 52-year-old man.

Dr Ian Wadsworth was giving evidence at the third day of the inquest on Richard Howe, of Hordley Road, Wellington, who died a day after the blast at Allscott sugar beet factory on March 2, 2003.

Dr Wadsworth, who carried out an investigation after the accident, said two-thirds of the tube that fractured had been eroded away over a number of years.

“Once the tube gets too thin, the remaining ligament gets weaker and weaker until the pressure inside the boiler is so great it bursts,” he added. “It’s sudden and catastrophic.”

Engineer surveyor Archibald Carrick, of Wolverhampton, inspected the boiler a year before the explosion and told the inquest at Telford’s Park Inn that he had found no signs of erosion.

Mr Carrick, who is employed by Royal & SunAlliance, said he had only been able to access the first couple of pipes, adding: “To get to all the tubes they would have to strip them out, which is impossible.”

He disagreed with Dr Wadsworth’s view that the pipe had eroded over a number years, suggesting it could have happened in the months after his inspection.

The hearing continues.