A man was struck and killed by a train as he fled police following a car chase, an inquest has heard.

Officers tailed a Ford Focus being driven at 60mph by Ricky Prior along St Stephen's Road in Canterbury in the early hours of Sunday, January 21.

Fifteen minutes after starting the pursuit, they turned on their blue lights when the Focus hit a bollard near Bingley Court, where Mr Prior lived.

The 29-year-old jumped out of the car and ran off. It is believed he scaled an 8ft fence before he was struck by a train near Canterbury East railway station.

Police officers involved in the chase gave evidence this week at an inquest into Mr Prior's death.

PC Tom Blant told the hearing that after officers signalled for Mr Prior to pull over, he sped off.

“He accelerated away," he said. "He exited the vehicle on foot a matter of seconds later and ran towards the Great Stour.

“By the point he reached the small footbridge at Toddler’s Cove, he was 80 yards ahead of me. He was quite a bit quicker than me and, to be quite frank, I was out of breath.”

The officers and a dog handler searched the area, but could not find Mr Prior.

It is believed that he climbed a metal fence next to the railway line near Canterbury East station.

He was walking alongside the tracks when he was hit by a train travelling towards Dover Priory at about 1.40am - almost an hour after his car was first followed.

He died of multiple injuries, but his body, which was about 600 yards from the station, was not discovered until just after 8am.

The driver of the train, Shaun Hood, told officers he did not know he had struck a person.

He said in interview: “As the line was beginning to straighten it looked like the train had hit a bag of rubbish. Then I heard a muffled thud.

“Straight after, I turned off the power. The train felt OK so I opened up and travelled to Dover.

“It was a normal run. I considered everything was fine until I got a call from British Transport Police.”

"The most likely scenario was Ricky had run away, hidden in bushes and then entered the tracks..." - assistant coroner James Dillon

Mr Prior's girlfriend, Jemma Saunders, told the inquest he had asked to borrow her car in order to pick up a friend from Herne Bay Clock Tower and bring him back to their flat, despite not having a licence.

He left at about 10.40pm and Ms Saunders said she expected him to return by 12.30am.

She added that he had taken cocaine earlier that day and drunk “a couple of double vodkas” at about 9pm.

Toxicology showed alcohol and drugs were in Mr Prior’s system when he died, but the assistant coroner James Dillon deemed the results were not reliable enough to say he had been “impaired”.

Mr Dillon concluded Mr Prior had died while “seeking to evade police who had sought to stop him when he had been seen speeding”.

“He had been spotted by the police driving without a licence and insurance,” he said.

“Having spotted they were behind, Ricky had decamped from the car. The most likely scenario was Ricky had run away, hidden in bushes and then entered the tracks.

“The most likely explanation was Ricky was using the railway line to get back to Bingley Court. It was in those circumstances he lost his life.”

The actions of officers in the lead up to Mr Prior’s death were investigated by the Kent Police professional standards department, which found no wrongdoing.