EYEWITNESSES described a scene of tragedy on the second day of the inquest into the death of a Kidderminster motorbike enthusiast at last year's TT races in the Isle of Man.

An inquiry opened on Wednesday last week into the deaths of spectator Dean Jacob, 33, of Tomkinson Drive, race competitor Marc Ramsbotham, 34, from Norfolk, and fellow spectator Gregory John Kenzig, 52, from Australia.

On day two - Thursday last week - the inquest heard claims a risk assessment document dating back to 2004 had disappeared.

TT marshal Keith McKay, of Ramsey, told the hearing he had been marshalling at the 26th milestone, known as Joey's, with six others when the accident happened near the end of the senior race, on Friday June 8.

Mr McKay said he was standing in the layby when he saw Mr Ramsbotham approach, apparently on the correct racing line, close to the fence posts on the right hand side of the road.

Mr McKay said: "He cut just a little too close and I saw his head strike the post.

"He crossed the road out of control and I lost sight of him behind the banking.

"Then it all happened in a few seconds. The next I saw of the bike it was about 12 feet in the air.

"Some of the pieces cartwheeling hit the roof of a car and a motorcycle in the layby.

"I believe the bike had broken up into two pieces from behind the steering head."

He told the hearing he thought one of the pieces had hit Hilary Musson and another his partner Janice Phillips, both fellow marshals, standing nearby.

Mrs Musson, who had severe injuries, and Ms Phillips, who had a broken arm and other injuries, were both taken by air ambulance to hospital, he said.

Mr McKay told the hearing he had never seen any prohibited area signs to restrict spectating on top of the bank at Joey's during the five years he had marshalled there.

Philip Crowe, who with his brother Robert was deputy sector marshal at Joey's, said there had been no signs at Joey's to show a prohibited area on the top of the bank.

"The only sign I ever saw was one at the bottom of the bank where I would not allow anyone to sit anyway," he added.

He also told the hearing the first time he had seen the document, known as 65a, showing the prohibited area had been after the accident.

The previous deputy sector marshal had painted the fence posts white so they were visible to riders after voicing concerns about riders passing close to them, he said.

Mr Crowe's brother Robert told the hearing, according to the risk assessment document he had, the spectators had been in a low risk area. He too said he did not see a copy of the 65a document until after the accident.

He said the 2004 risk assessment document they had worked from had disappeared when he tried to locate it after the accident.

"As an experienced marshal I would have been asking questions if I had known what was in the document," he said.

Mr Crowe said they definitely did not have document 65a but accepted they should have asked for extra signs to mark out those prohibited areas they were aware of from the 2004 risk assessment.

Chief sector marshall Cathy Pullen told the hearing she had ensured copies of document 65a were allocated to the Joey's marshalling point.

Mrs Pullen said she had found document 65a in the caravan at Joey's but overlooked it at first because the information was on the reverse of a different document.

Read what the court heard on the first day of the inquest on Wednesday last week by clicking here.

Copy supplied by MEN