An open verdict was recorded at the inquest on a 39-year-old man killed when he walked along the perimeter road at Gatwick Airport into the path of a catering lorry.

A Crawley inquest heard Varshad Nayee was walking along Perimeter Road East when he suddenly veered off the pavement in front of the lorry.

Mr Nayee, of Rushetts Road, Langley Green, died from multiple injuries after being hit by the truck operated by in-flight catering company Gate Gourmet, on April 25.

Driver Mark Allin, of Gossops Green, said he saw Mr Nayee approaching him on the pavement when he was about 300 yards away.

"He looked back over his shoulder towards the South Terminal and carried on walking. When he was about a car's length away, he came straight out in front of my vehicle. I swerved but could not avoid him."

The impact with the front of the lorry knocked Mr Nayee into the air and back on to the pavement.

Trusha Nayee, of The Croft, Gossops Green, who is not related to the dead man, had just finished her shift as a pharmacist at Boots the Chemist in the South Terminal.

She saw the accident from the front passenger seat of a car as she was being given a lift home.

She said the dead man had been a regular customer at the chemist and she had frequently made up his prescriptions of medication to control epilepsy.

Jayantill Nayee said his son was married, with a small child, and suffered from epilepsy as the result of a head injury he sustained at the age of 16.

"Although he was happy, he did suffer fits and his mental health was up and down."

Pathologist Dr Colin Hunter-Craig said the victim had a history of epilepsy and paranoid schizophrenia. Blood tests indicated the presence of a drug to control epilepsy but the level was too low to be of therapeutic value.

Returning an open verdict, Coroner Roger Stone commented: "He could have been overtaken by illness and I feel an open conclusion is the right one".