A YOUNG wife sobbed as an inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental death on her 21-year-old husband who was crushed to death on the M20.

Daniel Tickner died of multiple injuries just days before he would have become a father. His son was named Daniel in his memory.

Mr Tickner, of Barnfield, New Ash Green, near Gravesend, was killed when a colleague reversed over him on the London-bound carriageway near junction nine of the motorway at Charing, near Ashford, last February.

He and Matthew Eaton had seen some cones knocked over and decided to put them back, but as Mr Eaton, a driver for Bairstead Civil Engineering Limited, reversed he lost sight of Daniel Tickner in his lorry's side mirrors.

It was only the persistent sound of beeping car horns that alerted him, but by then his colleague was trapped. Kent Air Ambulance was called but Mr Tickner died at the scene.

During the two-day inquest at Dover, nine jurors heard statements from passing drivers, Mr Tickner's colleagues and also a representative from the Health and Safety Executive.

Motorist Michael Hoare, from Ashford said: "As I slowed down for the road works I became aware of a maintenance worker in a high-visibility jacket jogging behind a work lorry in the coned-off area. As I pulled level to the lorry I saw the worker stumble and fall under the lorry.

"He was trying to grab on to the back of the vehicle to push himself away but he couldn't manage it.

"I beeped my horn to try to alert the driver of the problem and then stopped my car nearby. By this time there were other people on the scene."

Daniel's mother, Michelle said: "I am pleased with the accidental death verdict as for me it means there is a kind of closure."