A Kent runner in the Boston marathon missed the two blasts that rocked the finish line by just minutes, it has emerged.

John Harley, of Nunnery Lane, Penshurst, had finished the race in the US city in 3 hours and 21 minutes.

Luckily, the 61-year-old (pictured right) was only just safely back in his hotel room with wife Sylvia when they heard the two explosions that killed at least three people and injured more than 140.

Mr Harley said: "We heard two enormous crashing bangs and we wondered what on earth they were.

"We were only a block or so away from where the blasts occured, but we couldn't see anything at that point.

"And then the world just became the sound of sirens as ambulance and police descended on the area."

He spoke of how the city's party mood switched to one of grief in just moments.

Mr Harley added: "Boston marathon is the best marathon in the world and there's normally a party atmosphere with everyone wearing medals, but we were not able to go out - we were told to stay in the hotel.

"It was quite a calm and reflective evening. We had dinner in the hotel and one of the people at the table next to us was a young mother with 18-month-old twins and she had passed the area where the blast happened probably 10 seconds before.

"She had felt the blast so she was a very lucky lady.

"I'm a man of fate, really - what happens, happens. I was just lucky enough not to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was just luck really."

Mark Hookway, Mr Harley's friend from Tonbridge Athletic Club, had been tracking his progress at home.

He said: "He emailed a number of people saying that he and his wife were back safely at the hotel, which was on a road parallel to the finishing area, and they'd heard the bombs but that they were safe and sound.

"It was quite a stroke of luck really that he was back in the hotel - it just goes to show how little timings like that can make such a difference."

The Foreign Office today said it is not aware of any Britons being injured in the bombings.

A senior White House official has described the blasts as "an act of terrorism".

There have been no immediate claims of responsibility and the FBI has taken charge of the investigation.