A 15-year-old boy told today how he got out of a stolen car minutes before it went on to be involved in a horrific crash which killed all five teenagers inside.

He and three other youths who later died in the collision spent part of the evening and early hours driving around in the blue Rover Metro, an inquest heard.

After about two-and-a-half hours of joyriding, the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he disembarked from the car and returned home to bed.

Around 10 minutes later, the stolen Rover containing five teenagers crashed into a lamppost and wall in Battle Road, St Leonards, at about 1.40am on October 29 2005 as it was being pursued by a police patrol car.

The impact instantly killed Daniel Carwardine, 16, Kelly Goring, 17, Barrie Mackay, 15, Danielle Martin, 16, and Lee Morgan, 14, all from St Leonards.

The boy told the inquest today that Barrie approached him and Lee in Kent Road some time between 10.30pm and midnight asking for their help in starting up a car.

He said: "He (Barrie) said he had been given a car and he needed to bump-start it. We walked up to Carpenter Drive and we started it, and we were driving around."

The boy said both he and Barrie took turns behind the wheel, and three of them travelled across Hastings and St Leonards in the car before reaching the Wishing Tree Road area of the seaside town.

The inquest jury has heard it was around this time, at about 1.35am, that police received a call from concerned resident Kevin Linstead who saw the three boys loitering beside the car.

They were soon joined in Wishing Tree Road by Daniel Carwardine, and the car was bump-started again before all four of them drove off with the unnamed boy driving.

He said he stopped the car a short distance away in Dymond Road before getting out and walking home, leaving the three other boys in the car with Barrie behind the wheel.

He added: "Dan was a bit drunk and what I thought was going to happen was that Barrie was going to drop Dan home."

At some point after the boy got out, Danielle and Kelly were picked up in the stolen car - and became caught up in the evenfollow.

Daniel, of Beauchamp Road; Kelly, of Quebec Road; Barrie, of London Road; Danielle, of Quebec Road; and Lee, of Chambers Road, all died from multiple injuries.

The jury has already heard that all five dead teenagers tested positive for cannabis, and three of them - Daniel, Kelly and Danielle - also had alcohol in their systems.

The case was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) because Acting Sergeant Paul Sandeman had been pursuing the Rover before it crashed.

Criminal charges against the Hastings-based officer were ruled out by the Crown Prosecution Service but the IPCC reserved judgment on what action it might take until after the inquest concludes this week.

The inquest heard last week that 29-year-old Acting Sgt Sandeman was not authorised to engage a vehicle in a pursuit.

It heard he was under the mistaken belief that as a Class 4 police driver permit-holder, he was entitled to pursue a vehicle which failed to stop. The inquest continues.