An amateur pilot died when the aerobatic manoeuvre he was attempting went wrong, an inquest heard.

John O'Connor crashed at Goodwood Airfield near Chichester on December 28 last year.

An inquest jury was told Mr O'Connor, 47, learnt to fly seven years earlier and had taken an aerobatics course only a few months before the accident.

On the day in question he was believed to have been attempting an aerobatic roll.

But the two-seater Robin plane was too close to the ground and crashed, killing him instantly.

The inquest heard from Mr O'Connor's girlfriend Hazel Wynn-Peel.

She told the inquest Mr O'Connor had been excited about the flight and had asked her specifically to watch him fly that day.

She said she took her eyes off the plane for a moment and when she looked back she saw him crash.

She added: "I just started running to the plane. I cannot remember who, but someone stopped me from getting too near."

The inquest was told the impact caused the plane to break up and that death would have been instant.

A post-mortem revealed Mr O'Connor, who lived in Roehampton in south-west London, died from multiple injuries.

The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.