Two men were killed after the BMW they were travelling in spun off the road at high speed, an inquest was told.

Jake Kelly, 28, and Darren Kemp, 33, both suffered multiple injuries in the accident, which happened on the Brighton bypass in December.

The men, who had both been drinking, were thrown from the car and police investigators could not conclude who had been driving, an inquest heard.

Mr Kemp, who was found under the car, is believed to have been behind the wheel.

The car, which was not insured, belonged to Mr Kemp's girlfriend, Jane Mack. The two men, who were homeless, were both staying at Ms Mack's flat in Lansdown Place, Hove, at the time of the crash.

They had been for a drink with her at a pub in Kemp Town and left saying they would return in 30 minutes.

Shortly afterwards, witnesses saw the BMW driving in a fast and aggressive manner on the A27.

Neale Thibaut, of Wayfield Close, Hove, was one of the first motorists to stop.

He described how the BMW had been extensively damaged, the roof was ripped off and debris, grass and mud were covering the road.

He told the hearing at Brighton Magistrates Court: "It was being driven extremely aggressively and extremely fast."

Another motorist, Lloyd McCulloch, of Denmark Villas, Hove, estimated the BMW had passed him at more than 100mph.

He had watched the vehicle as it sped ahead of him and then veer from the outside lane to the inside lane.

He said: "I saw the car bouncing up and down. It seemed like a film or an arcade game."

Mr Kelly died within a few minutes of the accident. Mr Kemp survived the impact and was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, where he died that evening.

Blood tests showed Mr Kelly was more than twice over the legal drink drive limit and Mr Kemp was one-and-a-half times over.

PC Julian Taylor, of the collision investigation unit at Shoreham, said the BMW had veered to the left, struck the verge and hit a safety barrier before crashing into a concrete lamp post.

The post had been knocked almost completely flat by the impact.

The vehicle came to rest facing the way it had come. Both rear tyres were defective and it was possible the driver had not been wearing a seat belt.

PC Taylor said the most likely cause of the car losing control were the actions of the driver, which would have been exacerbated by the high alcohol levels.

Brighton and Hove Coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley recorded verdicts of accidental death.

She said: "We will never know for certain who was driving.

"Sadly, two young men lost their lives totally unnecessarily. Both of them had levels of alcohol which would have made it unsafe and illegal to drive the vehicle, which was uninsured and not properly maintained."