The widow of an asbestos victim, poisoned whilst working for British Rail, had to go to court to get the government even to pay for his gravestone.

Douglas Grant started working in British’s Rail’s Swindon boiler shop as a school leaver, but had a golden business touch that later made him millions.

But the asbestos exposure when he was in his teens cost him his life more than 50 years later, London’s High Court heard.

The Department of Transport accepted liability for his death - but told his bereaved widow, Patricia, 74, it would not pay for his gravestone.

Now, however, a judge has ordered the government to pay £1,200 for the monument - as part of a total damages award topping £250,000.

Mr Grant was just 15 when he started working in the boiler shop in 1959 and was only there for a year, said Judge Martin Chamberlain QC. But, in 2011, he began to suffer symptoms of the incurable asbestos-related lung cancer, mesothelioma.

He endured appalling suffering and his wife looked after him, day and night, until his death, aged 70, in November 2014.

The couple had met at school and lived together for almost 40 years, the judge added.

Mr Grant, the court heard, was a “workaholic” who succeeded spectactularly in a range of business ventures.

Starting out in the fruit and vegetable trade, he bought a 100-acre farm on Lechlade Road, Highworth, and built a home there.

He set up a successful Saturday and Sunday market before selling the site for £1.35 million in the 1990s. The serial entrepreneur later built a golf course and established a thriving stone and tarmac recycling business, which he again sold for a good return.

Before his illness, the “shrewd” businessman still had money-making plans afoot, including the sale of part of his land for development.

Despite accepting its liability to compensate Mrs Grant, the Department of Transport dug in its heels and hotly disputed the amount she was due. Amongst other things, it refused to pay anything towards the cost of her husband’s £4,867 gravestone.

But Judge Chamberlain ruled the stone was part of Mr Grant’s “funeral expenses”, and ordered the Department to contribute £1,200.

The judge also awarded £92,500 to reflect the businessman’s “pain and suffering” before he died.

His widow was also entitled to compensation for the loss of a “plainly capable” husband who decorated, gardened and did DIY around the house.

Although lawyers were left to calculate the exact amount of Mrs Grant’s payout, it was bound to total more than £250,000.