AN off-duty police officer has told how she clambered down a riverbank and cradled a motorcyclist in her arms as he lay dying following a crash on a Hampshire road.

Tim Barfoot was thought to have been travelling at speeds of 100mph when he hit a car that was pulling out of a driveway and was hurled into the air, an inquest heard.

He was spotted lying on a steep bank above a stream by detective constable Helen Wilkie, who stopped him slipping and comforted him as he passed away.

Giving evidence, the Hampshire police officer, who became tearful as she recalled what happened, said: “I kept talking to him in case he could hear me.

“His breathing was getting shallower and shallower.

“I held his hand and squeezed his hand so that he knew someone was there. I didn’t want him to be frightened and on his own.

“I kept saying ‘It’s going to be OK’, ‘hang on in there’. I didn’t want him to know how bad he was.”

‘Excessive’ The inquest in Winchester heard that Mr Barfoot, a father of three, of Shakespeare Road, Eastleigh, was riding a 1,000cc Suzuki on the 50mph Winchester Road between Waltham Chase and Bishop’s Waltham on January 2.

Several witnesses said they saw Mr Barfoot riding at high speed including Thomas Horn, a mechanic at S&S Diesel Services, who estimated it was 110mph, saying: “It was quicker than the blink of an eye.”

The hearing was told how the crash happened when resident Grace Robbie-Paul pulled out of her drive in her BMW and collided with Mr Barfoot. She said she looked but did not see him.

Crash investigator PC Tracey Saunders said an estimate of 100mph was based on CCTV at S&S.

A reconstruction showed that with Mr Barfoot going at 100mph he may have been visible for only four seconds and Ms Robbie-Paul’s view may have been obscured by traffic.

Tests revealed that neither Mr Barfoot nor Ms Robbie-Paul had any alcohol or drugs in their system.

Coroner Grahame Short returned a verdict that Mr Barfoot was killed in a road traffic accident and that he was driving at “excessive speed”.

After the hearing, Mr Barfoot’s brother Chris thanked DC Wilkie ||for her actions.

In a statement, the family said: “John and Eileen Barfoot, with approval from his widow Michelle, would like to express their heartfelt thanks to friends and well-wishers for the months of incredible overwhelming support received regarding the untimely death of their youngest son, Timothy.

“Tim was much-loved in the community, growing up in Bishop’s Waltham, attending school in Swanmore, near the family home.

“The youngest of three brothers, Tim was a great husband, proud father, hard worker, conscientious human being and loyal friend.”

The Crown Prosecution Service said after the inquest that Ms Robbie-Paul would not be facing any criminal prosecution.