A leading industrial injury lawyer from Wantage has criticised a Law Lords judgment which will mean victims of asbestos-related diseases will not receive full compensation.

The House of Lords ruled that there will be a limit to damages in cases involving several employers, none of whom could be specifically blamed for the onset of the fatal illness.

Insurers had challenged a judgment favouring bereaved families and workers who contracted the deadly lung disease mesothelioma at work a decision which could affect claims running into millions of pounds.

Virginia Chalmers, of Thring Townsend solicitors, which is representing several claimants in Oxfordshire, told the Oxford Mail she was very disappointed with the ruling. She said: "This means some of my clients who would yesterday have got full compensation, will today get less."

She said mesothelioma victims and their families would still be able to make a claim for compensation, but claims would be more difficult to prove and awards could be reduced.

Richard Langton, president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, said the decision was an insult to thousands of claimants and their families.

He said: "In the case of Fairchild v Glenhaven Funeral Services Ltd, the insurers conceded that where several employers could be held responsible for exposing an employee to asbestos, the claimant had the right to pursue full compensation from whichever employer was able to pay.

"The Fairchild decision ensured people who had been fatally injured through no fault of their own would receive full compensation.

"But now, each past employer will be responsible for paying only a portion of the compensation."

Last week, the Oxford Mail reported that almost 200 people were seeking compensation for asbestos-related illnesses contracted in Oxfordshire's factories.

Many worked at Oxford's Cowley car factory, at the UK Atomic Energy Authority site at Harwell, near Didcot, or are relatives of dead staff.

It follows inquests into the deaths of two women who inhaled deadly asbestos dust while washing their husband's work clothes.

Vic Day, of Longcot Road, Shrivenham, was diagnosed with the lung-scarring asbestos condition pleural plaques three years ago and was able to make a successful claim of £6,000.

Earlier this year, insurance company Norwich Union won a High Court action to prevent compensation being given to victims of the condition.

Mr Day, who was affected by the disease after working for a heating company breaking down boilers covered in asbestos, said he could not understand why courts would make a ruling that would affect payments made to victims.