AN 86-year-old woman died after inhaling asbestos at the Morris Motor car factory in Cowley, an inquest found.

Elizabeth Stephenson, of Evans Lane, Kidlington, worked at the car plant for six months during the late 1950s.

She died at Sobell House Hospice, Headington, on December 9.

She had suffered a string of health problems, including diabetes, anaemia and cancer of the colon, bowel and lung. She had a stroke in 2010.

Her daughter, Liz Tong, of Bicester, said her mother had worked in the trim shop at the car plant, now the BMW Mini factory.

She said: “She said she wasn’t sure [how she had been exposed to asbestos] because she didn’t actually touch or see it.

“But there were people working above her and she later understood it would have been from there.”

Coroner Nicholas Gardiner told Oxford Coroner’s Court last Wednesday: “On the balance of probability, she was exposed to asbestos at work at the motor factory. It is well known for that type of problem.

“I shall be recording that she died from an industrial disease.”