A WIDNES man killed by a van as he lay on a dual carriageway in Runcorn may have suffered an epileptic seizure, an inquest in Warrington heard today.

CCTV cameras at chemical plant Inovyn captured the final movements of 29-year-old Keith Crossett who suffered from epilepsy and was almost blind.

Mr Crossett, who lived in a bedsit at The Old Bank in Victoria Road, died after being hit by a Ford transit van at 11.40pm on Monday, September 14, last year.

Footage examined by the police showed him stumbling along a slip road and falling onto the outside lane of the Weston Point Expressway, where he lay for five seconds before he was fatally struck.

Security guard Paul Lloyd Foster working at a nearby chemical site heard shouting.

He told the inquest: “A man was walking up the central reservation. He seemed to be staggering.

“He had his hand on his head and was talking to himself.”

Mr Foster raised the alarm and drove out in a patrol vehicle to try and warn other motorists.

Accident investigator Robert Wilson from Cheshire Police said CCTV cameras showed Mr Crossett walking, stumbling and lying in the road.

Several motorists including a lorry driver swerved to avoid hitting him.

Mr Wilson praised Ford transit driver John Seow for his swift reaction by immediately braking and said the accident could not have been prevented.

The day before the collision, Mr Crossett had taken ill.

His friend Mark Foster said he turned up at his home with two black eyes which he told him had been caused by an epileptic fit the previous day.

“He looked terrible,” said Mr Foster. “His glasses were broken. He asked me to call an ambulance.”

Mr Crossett was taken to Warrington Hospital and had tests for a high heart beat but left before being treated.

Toxicology tests later showed he had taken cocaine, cannabis and amphetamines before he died.

Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg concluded that Mr Crossett had died from multiple injuries caused by a road traffic collision.

He said: “Why Mr Crossett was in this state is impossible to say. He may have suffered an epileptic seizure.

“He was in a disoriented state. How he got there is not known.

“He collapsed in the road making him invisible to the Ford transit van.”

After the hearing, Mr Crossett’s mum, Carol Walshaw told driver John Seow: “There is no way we blame you whatsoever.”