A TRANSPORT company foreman jailed after he lied to police when a transporter mowed down a Southampton pensioner has died in prison, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Terence Gleadall collapsed and died of a heart attack in Winchester Prison just three weeks after being jailed following the death of Joyce McVey.

Prison staff tried to save him but the 46-year-old died in the prison's medical unit on Wednesday.

Gleadall was serving four months for tampering with the service records of the poorly-maintained CarTrans lorry that killed Mrs McVey, 78, of Westwood Road, Portswood. He admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

The trial at Winchester Crown Court heard that the victim was killed when the transporter's brakes failed and it was driven on to the pavement in The Avenue in September 2002.

Driver of the transporter Michael Roberts, 41, was jailed for a year after admitting manslaughter. CarTrans boss Paul Duckmanton, 47, was jailed for eight months for tampering with the lorry's service records.

Coroner's officer Roger Matcham said an inquest must be held as Gleadall, of Rotherham, south Yorkshire, died in custody.

Mr Matcham said: "He died in the medical unit. There had been no warning, no indication of major illness. His wife has said there was no history of heart problems. His family are devastated."

The trial heard that he had collapsed shortly after his arrest by Hampshire police and spent a night in hospital.

The inquest was opened yesterday by Central Hampshire Coroner Grahame Short and adjourned to a date to be fixed.

Mr Short heard evidence that Gleadall had died of coronary disease.

Insp David Watkins, who led the police investigation, said last night: "It's very sad. Our sympathies go out to Mr Gleadall's family."

Speaking from the United States before Gleadall's death, Mrs McVey's son, Tony, criticised the sentencing: "It was too lenient; the deliberately fraudulent safety reporting of Duckmanton and Gleadall combined with Roberts' reckless driving culminated in the horribly violent death of my mother."

Mr McVey, 51, who runs a film company in San Francisco, California, also revealed the terrible irony that his mum, Joyce, had beaten cancer only to be cut down by the lorry.

The Daily Echo has learned that Duckmanton has been left with a six-figure legal bill believed to be in the region of £250,000.

He has had to fund much of the fees of his counsel Philip Hackett QC.