THE widow of a Gwent man thrown 80ft to his death by a collapsing gantry last night welcomed an unlawful killing verdict at his inquest.

Jeffrey Williams, 42, from Newport, was one of four workers who died in September 1999 when the platform under the M5 Avonmouth bridge gave way.

The inquest heard how brakes on the gantry were not enough to prevent it from being torn apart by bad weather.

One end of the gantry snapped away from the beams because of the strong wind, throwing the four workers to the ground. All of them died.

After more than two hours of deliberation at the Bristol inquest yesterday into his death, the jury returned verdicts that Mr Williams, Paul Stewart, 23, from Newcastle, Andrew Rodgers, 40, from Middlesbrough, and Ronald Hill, 38, from Glasgow, were all unlawfully killed.

Mr Williams left behind his wife and four children, now aged between 15 and 23.

After the hearing, Mr Williams' widow Dawn, 42, of Llanthewy Road, Newport, said: "I'm really, really, pleased. It is a huge weight off my shoulders. I feel that it has vindicated everything we have said."

In December 2001 at Bristol crown court, Costain Ltd, of Maid-enhead, Berkshire, and Kvaerner Cleveland Bridge Ltd - now known as Yarm Road Ltd, of Hammersmith, London - were prosecuted under the Health and Safety Act.

They were fined a total of £500,000 and ordered to split prosecution costs of £525,000 having admitted breaching health and safety regulations at the Avonmouth Bridge site.

Philip Mott, QC, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, then told the court: "The lack of safety in design and construction from the start and the failure to react to incidents prior to the fatal accident is evidence of a blindness to basic health and safety principles of truly staggering proportions."

The firms have also reached a £1.3 million compensation settlement for the families of the men who died.

Mrs Williams said: "I am only sorry that we weren't able to continue with the civil case against them. When I went up to meet the barristers in December to discuss the out of court settlement I didn't think it was sufficient, no amount of money is for the death of my husband.

"The union said that I would have to accept it because they wouldn't fund us to fight on. I just wish we'd waited for this verdict.

"These are multi-million pound companies and I think the fines they got were pathetic. These were hard-working, decent men, the kind that help to keep this country going and they should be valued."

Now, Mrs Williams is determined to get on with her life, saying: "I'm relieved it's all finished now - I'm stronger now than I ever thought possible. When I went to see Jeff after the accident his strength went into me and I had to be strong for both of us. We had 20 wonderful years together some people don't even get 20 minutes."