A much-loved father of four who died after crashing into a tree had suffered a heart attack moments before, an inquest heard.

Security officer Anthony McCoan, from Ramsgate, lost control of his green Kawasaki while travelling along the A299 Thanet Way in April this year.

At an inquest at Archbishop's Palace in Maidstone yesterday(Oct3), senior coroner Patricia Harding concluded the medical episode led to the crash, but did not directly cause Mr McCoan's death.

A post-mortem gave the physical cause of death as multiple injuries, although the examination also revealed Mr McCoan had suffered a heart attack.

The hearing was told the 46-year-old was travelling south-west along the A299 Thanet Way between Whitstable and Faversham at about 6.10am on Thursday, April 28, when his bike swerved across the road.

The driver of a car nearby captured the accident on dashcam.

The inquest heard Dr Konstantinos Skendros, in his post-mortem examination, found Mr McCoan had a completely blocked coronary artery.

He believed Mr McCoan had lost control of the motorcycle because of the medical episode and had still been alive on impact.

The pathologist found negative results in toxicology tests, meaning Mr McCoan had no alcohol or drugs in his system.

The inquest heard a Kent Police crash examination found that an electrical fault on the motorcycle had caused a loss of power, which investigators initially thought may have led to the crash.

But when the post-mortem findings were revealed in full to police at the hearing, Det Con David Holmes told Mrs Harding he now agreed it was more likely the heart attack caused Mr McCoan to lose control.

Police found there had been no defects on the road and no bad weather that contributed to the crash.

It was estimated that Mr McCoan had been travelling at between 56 and 71mph. As a dual carriageway, the speed limit on the Thanet Way is 70mph.

A report by Mr McCoan's GP said he was not a regular patient and had last been seen at the surgery in September 2018, for a matter unrelated to a heart condition.

Mr McCoan, of West Dumpton Lane, was also classed as medically fit for an HGV licence in 2016.

The hearing was told he was a security officer and had recently been dealing with the Operation Brock traffic control system on the M20.

His wife Kisha told the inquest: "He was working a lot and started looking a bit withdrawn. A neighbour told him to see a doctor."

Mrs Harding concluded with a narrative verdict.

She said Mr McCoan had suffered a "myocardial infarction" while riding his motorcycle, lost control of the vehicle and collided with a tree.

After the hearing, Mrs McCoan told KentOnline: "I am glad we now know the cause of what happened."

In the aftermath of the tragedy, she paid tribute to her "loveable" husband of 25 years.

“Everybody loved him – he was a real family man," she told KentOnline at the time.

“We’ve lost a lot of fellow bikers unfortunately this year, and he’s now one of them."

A spokesman for his employer, Margate firm CH Recruitment, spoke of the devastation among staff at the loss of a "wonderful" colleague.

“Many of you would have worked with Anthony at various sites and events and you will all recognise his kind heart, bubbly personality and the loyalty he showed to CH," he said.