A manager with little more than a year left to live has been awarded a record £285,000 compensation after developing cancer three decades after coming into contact with asbestos.

James Guthrie, 52, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in May last year. Doctors warned him he was likely to be dead within two years.

Lawyers believe the award is the highest ever to a living victim of asbestos-related illness. The biggest single award was a £4.3m payment to the family of a businessman.

Mr Guthrie, a former British Gas facilities manager, came into contact with asbestos as a teenager when he worked as an apprentice joiner at an Edinburgh cooperative.

The disease takes at least 30 years to develop. Experts predict the number of cases over the next two decades will increase from 3,000 a year to more than 10,000.