A RETIRED security guard died of head injuries after colliding with a lamppost while cycling home from the pub.

John William Whitehead, of Meadowsweet Road, Creekmoor, Poole, was found injured on the ground of an alleyway by a man and his fiancee who were out walking their dog.

They performed first aid on Mr Whitehead, who told them he'd collided with a lamppost while riding his electric bicycle home from the pub.

On Tuesday (April 7) at Dorset Coroner's Court, Bournemouth Town Hall, coroner Richard Middleton presided over an inquest into the death of the 68-year-old divorcee.

Reading a statement from Peter Payne, the project manager who came across Mr Whitehead around 6pm on Saturday, March 14, Mr Middleton said: "We'd walked about 200 yards down the path when my partner and I saw a person laying on the ground.

"He was laying on his back when I saw him and he had an expensive white electric bicycle still between his legs. This bicycle was on its side."

"He said that he'd had a few drinks."

Mr Payne, who later said he could smell alcohol on Mr Whitehead's breath, also recalled. "It appeared that he had banged his head."

He was put into the recovery position before they left to try nearby homes to call for help.

One neighbour called an ambulance but they were told the wait would be around one and a half hours.

In the meantime, with help from the neighbours, they took Mr Whitehead the short trip home to his house, just a few hundred yards away.

But at his home, Mr Whitehead's condition deteriorated, the court was told. He appeared to fall asleep and couldn't be woken.

An ambulance was called again and paramedics arrived and took Mr Whitehead to Poole Hospital.

By the time he arrived at Poole Hospital, it was confirmed he was in a deep coma. Emergency medics intubated and ventilated him prior to carrying out a brain scan – which showed a large blood clot and skull fracture.

After being transferred to the specialised neurological unit at Southampton University Hospital his condition had deteriorated further.

At this point doctors considered his injury unsurvivable.

He died later in the Southampton hospital at 4.05am on March 16, 2020.

Mr Middleton recorded a conclusion of accidental death