Boeing whistleblower John Barnett found dead in US

A former Boeing employee known for raising concerns about the firm's production standards has been found dead in the US. John Barnett had worked for Boeing for 32 years, until his retirement in 2017.

In the days before his death, he had been giving evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company.

Boeing said it was saddened to hear of Mr Barnett's passing.

Mr Barnett had worked for the US plane giant for 32 years, until his retirement in 2017 on health grounds.

In 2019, Mr Barnett told the BBC that under-pressure workers had been deliberately fitting sub-standard parts to aircraft on the production line.

Mr Barnett said he had alerted managers to his concerns, but no action had been taken.

A 2017 review by the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration, did uphold some of Mr Barnett's concerns.

At the time of his death, Mr Barnett had been in Charleston for legal interviews linked to that case.

In a statement Boeing said: "We are saddened by Mr. Barnett's passing, and our thoughts are with his family and friends.”

His death comes at a time when production standards at both Boeing and its key supplier Spirit Aerosystems are under intense scrutiny.

This follows an incident in early January when an unused emergency exit door blew off a brand-new Boeing 737 Max shortly after take-off from Portland International Airport.

Last week, the FAA said a six-week audit of the company had found "Multiple instances where the company allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements".