The verdict from an inquest into a mother who died 24 years after playing in the ashes from a massive Telford fire could have wider public health consequences, a coroner has warned.

A seven-year-old Ellen Paddock and other children played in the fallout from the blaze at the MoD’s Central Ordnance Depot in Donnington, believing it was snow.

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Debris from the fire, which turned the sky black and filled it with thick smoke, was blown across Telford and ashes showered down on areas including Hadley, Leegomery, Shawbirch and Admaston.

But the ashes had contained asbestos, and in 2006 Miss Paddock, of Blakemore, Brookside, Telford, was diagnosed with an asbestos-related cancer, mesothelioma. She died on July 22 last year, aged just 31, leaving three young daughters.

Yesterday, a jury returned a verdict of accidental death, due to exposure to asbestos fibres released in the fire on June 24, 1983.

Speaking at the end of the two-day hearing in Shrewsbury, Mr John Ellery, coroner for Mid and North Shropshire, told the inquest: “This may well have wider public health considerations.”

He said the verdict could be important if more deaths were reported to the coroner’s office in the future.

He added: “There’s nothing I can specifically do to raise awareness of asbestos. I’m sure that the publicity that this case is generating will attract more attention than anything I could do.”

Miss Paddock’s family, speaking after the verdict, vowed to continue with her bid to sue the MoD for an undisclosed six-figure sum.

See also – Family will continue victim’s fight