A KENT police officer was killed the day before he was due to be charged in connection with a major crime ring, an inquest was told.

Det Con Laurence Holmes, 44, was about to be charged with misfeaseance in public office when he drove his powerful motorbike into the back of an articulated lorry in Rye.

On Wednesday, the inquest in Hastings recorded an open verdict on the death of Mr Holmes who had been stationed at Ashford.

East Sussex coroner Alan Craze told the hearing he was torn between recording a verdict of suicide and accidental death.

Mr Craze said: "Either this was a prolonged, sustained and quite marked lack of attention by Mr Holmes or it was done deliberately."

The coroner said there were four factors which led him to wonder whether Mr Holmes took his life.

He said: "It is an extreme coincidence this happened the day before he was due to surrender to his bail under investigation for serious offences. He may have been of the opinion that there would be financial advantages for his family should his death occur.

"The degree of inattention would have had to be gross for him not to see this large brightly-painted lorry," he added.

The coroner said, however, that if Mr Holmes intended to kill himself he might have chosen a busier road, driven faster, or even taken his helmet off.

Mr Craze said: "It seems this was a most unusual method to intend to injure unless it was to have been a disguised suicide."

Mr Holmes was arrested along with 17 other men - including another serving Kent policeman- as part of Operation Cameo, an investigation into organised crime in Kent.