"Our husbands were killed by the 'new asbestos' "

The widows of two stonemasons who died from a lung condition contracted during their work have warned of the dangers of the "new asbestos".

Paul Gray and Stuart Johnson, who worked for the same stone production companies in Bradford and Leeds, were diagnosed with silicosis caused by silica dust.

Law firm Irwin Mitchell, which secured settlements for their families after their deaths in 2019 and 2021, has claimed that West Yorkshire is a "hotspot" for exposure to the dangerous mineral.

After an increase in reported cases of the disease, Irwin Mitchell has launched a national register for stoneworkers to record incidents of contact with the dust.

Mr Gray, from Shipley, who started working as a stone dresser in 1997, used power and hand tools to make paving slabs from reclaimed quarried stone.

He was in good health before he began to suffer breathing difficulties in 2017, and he died four years later.

Joanne Gray said her husband and son's father was "taken away" too early.

"Paul’s loss has been simply devastating, both for me and our son Daniel," she said.

"We had to watch Paul slowly decline for nearly four years. You feel so helpless."

Mr Johnson, also from Bradford, worked with Delph sandstone and gritstone, which is known for its high silica content.

He developed a persistent cough in 2013, but in 2017 he collapsed at work and never returned. He was diagnosed in 2018, 14 months before his death, having previously been "fit and active".