Strictly star sued for £200k by widow of maintenance worker who ‘died from asbestos exposure’ while working on estate
LONGLEAT’S owner and his Strictly Come Dancing star wife are being sued by a widow who claims her husband died from asbestos exposure on the estate.
Allan Keyse, 84, died from mesothelioma, an incurable lung tissue cancer, in 2019.
His family say the former estate worker was exposed to asbestos when he worked for the late eccentric Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath.
Allan’s widow Sally Keyse, 80, is now suing Alexander’s son Lore Ceawlin Thynn – married to Strictly star Emma Thynn – for £200,000.
Viscountess Emma Weymouth appeared on the 2019 series of the hit BBC dance show.
Allan worked for Lord Bath from 1961-1970 at Longleat, in Wiltshire, refurbishing and maintaining the main house, MailOnline reports.
He also carried out work on old cottages that contained asbestos and was exposed to more of the killer compound when he installed an entire asbestos barn roof, the High Court claim says.
Sally says Allan was regularly covered in asbestos dust up until 1966 due to work that also involved knocking down buildings and disposing of the naturally occurring carcinogenic fibrous material.
The family allege he did all this without any safety equipment or warnings of asbestos’s dangers, the court will hear.
In his last two years of work at the famous safari park, Allan worked in the main house away from asbestos but was still exposed to it at the park, documents claim.
Allan first noticed symptoms of mesothelioma in 2018 when he became breathless walking up slopes on holiday.
Back pain followed and he was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma in February 2019 that saw doctors drain fluid from his lung.
But Allan was not well enough for chemotherapy and needed morphine to control his pain – he died on August 7, 2019.
Sally accuses the Marquess of Bath, and his later employers Whitley Marketing Services, of negligently exposing him to asbestos and not providing him with proper safety kit.
It is understood that the marquess will be defending the claim and a defence will be filed at court shortly.