A widow is launching a campaign to persuade the Ministry of Defence to pay compensation to all families of servicemen who contracted cancer through working with asbestos, writes Suzanne Huband.

Ivy Gerrard-Smith's husband, Dennis, died in 1996 at the age of 68, 14 months after being diagnosed with mesothelioma.

He spent 31 years in the RAF as an electrical and instrument technician and served at RAF Brize Norton. Last week, Cotswold coroner Lester Mandrell said he was in no doubt that another RAF Brize Norton serviceman, Victor Davies, had died after developing cancer due to exposure to asbestos.

But Mrs Gerrard-Smith, 67, of Burford Road, Brize Norton, said she could not sue the MoD because he was exposed to the asbestos before 1987, when its immunity from liability for work-related deaths and illnesses was lifted. Her husband left the RAF in 1975. She said: "It can take 20 to 40 years after exposure before this cancer surfaces. If my husband had contracted the illness as a civilian then we could have claimed compensation.

No amount of money will bring back those who have died but it would nice to have justice. I want to set up a pressure group to try to change the rules and get compensation. I believe hundreds could have been exposed to asbestos while in the armed forces."