Motorcyclist “hunched down like on racing track” killed on A27 in Portsmouth, inquest hears

Dion Hancock, 29, lost control on his blue Yamaha MT-125 when heading westbound before smashing into a central reservation barrier on the Farlington flyover around 12.30am on September 15 last year.

Portsmouth Coroner’s Court heard how the “warm, friendly and polite” groundworker was driving “aggressively” while two and a half times the drink-driving limit. He had also smoked cannabis prior to the horror crash, which happened as he moved from the middle lane into the fast lane while overtaking.

Witness Gareth O’Driscoll, who was driving home, told the inquest how Mr Hancock “swerved out from behind me” while driving at around 70mph before hitting the central reservation barrier - with “bits flying everywhere” from the motorcycle. The witness described the driving as “aggressive” and said he might have been “trying to catch a slip stream to make him go faster”.

Lee Craven, who also witnessed the crash, recalled saying to himself seconds before the accident: “I thought you won’t last a mile (driving dangerously).” He said Mr Hancock was “swerving in and out of traffic” and “crouched down as if to ride more aerodynamically”, with him adding: “There was no need to undertake.”

After witnessing the crash he saw the bike fly through the air and land upwards. Mr Craven said he realised it was a “life and death situation” before pulling up and racing to the scene.

“No one could have survived that,” he told the hearing.

Police arrived on the scene and cordoned off the road and carried out chest compressions on Mr Hancock, who was lying in the central reservation area - with his motorbike around 70 metres away. He was pronounced dead shortly after 1am. He died after suffering multiple fractures and bleeding on the brain.

The hearing was told how the road was “moderately busy” as Mr Hancock travelled from a friend’s house in Havant to his home in Gosport. The surface was dry and in a good state of repair with the road well lit, according to police forensic investigator Robert Giles. He estimated Mr Hancock was driving at 70mph before hitting the barrier at around 50mph.

Mr Giles told the inquest the deceased was “experienced” at motorbike riding but had only been driving on a provisional licence, while his Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) licence had also expired. He told the hearing the visor Mr Hancock was wearing only had a light transmission of 16 per cent when the legal limit was 50 per cent.

Mr Hancock’s family said he had a passion for dirt motorbikes and BMW bikes from his early teenage years and would perform stunts. They said he was a “warm, friendly and polite young man” but had “struggled with life”. His family added: “We know alcohol was the main cause of him dying. We know he drank a fair bit and paid the ultimate price.”

Coroner Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp said: “(Mr Hancock) was hunched down like he was on a racing track. Why he had the wrong visor on I don’t know. Other drivers thought he was going to have an accident and sadly he did.”

She concluded Mr Hancock died of multiple injuries in a fatal road traffic collision with his “visor and alcohol level causing him to slide off the road”.

His family previously said in a tribute: "Dion was a much loved son, brother, grandson and cousin, an integral part of our family, we will miss his warmth, his humour.

"While we feel very lucky to have many cherished memories of the short time he was with us, we also grieve the massive loss of him and of the many more years he should have had ahead of him. Dion will forever be in our thoughts and hearts, we will always love him and never forget him."