Jake Glover-Brown: M1 death crash driver left UK after hit-and-run

Mr Glover-Brown died after being hit by a car on the M1 in October 2019

A driver who hit and killed a man as he attempted to walk across a motorway fled the country after the crash, an inquest has heard.

Jake Glover-Brown, 25, was hit on the M1 near Barnsley in 2019.

He "died instantaneously", Sheffield Coroners' Court heard, and driver Lukas Kandrac abandoned the vehicle and took a flight to Slovakia.

When he returned to the UK he told police he had "panicked". He was later charged with failing to stop.

The inquest heard Mr Glover-Brown, a dental technician from Barnsley, had been drinking with a friend on 18 October but they had parted company at about 23:30 BST.

'Screamed to stop'

PC Richard Thorley told the hearing there was "no evidence he had deliberately hurt himself" at the time of the crash about 25 minutes later.

He said police couldn't "explain where he had gone or what his intention was" before he got on to the northbound carriageway near Junction 35A.

Kandrac's girlfriend, who was a passenger in the vehicle was first to return to the UK, PC Thorley said, and told officers the couple had been driving to Halifax.

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Mr Glover-Brown was hit on a stretch of the motorway near Barnsley

PC Thorley said she told officers she had seen something in the road and had "screamed" to the driver to stop.

The driver, who returned to the UK later, said he was not aware of anything in the road until his girlfriend screamed "but it was too late to do anything", he added.

PC Thorley said the driver told police he had "panicked" and fled the scene, asking family members to collect him nearby before arranging flights out of the UK.

Assistant Coroner Tanyka Rawden concluded Mr Glover-Brown had died as a result of the injuries he sustained in the crash.

The court heard Kandrac, 24, from Sheffield, was charged with failing to stop after an accident and, in February, was given a four-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and disqualified from driving for 12 months.

Five other people arrested in connection with the crash were released with no further action.