Lung cancer victim in prison 11 times, court told

A MAN who lodged a ground-breaking lawsuit against one of the world’s biggest tobacco companies after developing terminal lung cancer was a convicted criminal who was sent to prison 11 times, a court heard yesterday.

Alfred McTear started the proceedings against Imperial Tobacco after he was diagnosed with the disease in 1992. He died in March 1993.

Yesterday, in the first case of its kind to be heard in Europe, his wife Margaret, 58, who is suing the company for £500,000 in damages related to her husband’s claim, began giving evidence.