FORMER Eastbourne Mayor and council leader Beryl Healy was run down by her own car after failing to put its handbrake on, an inquest heard.

Widow Mrs Healy 79, parked her Renault Modus on her steep drive at her house in Pococks Road, Eastbourne, but as she got out and went to the back of the car to unload her shopping, it started to creep down her drive.

Eyewitness Anthony Fox, a taxi driver of Santa Cruz Drive, Sovereign Harbour, had just dropped off a passenger at the nearby DGH and had parked up reading the newspaper.

"I heard a scream and I looked up. The car was coming backwards on the driveway, and she was behind the car. She then started to go under the car, the back wheels went over her," he described.

"She was under the car. I ran over there and tried to lift the vehicle off her but that was not possible. I shouted to some builders working nearby and they came rushing over. We then lifted the car onto pallets.’"

He told the inquest that Mrs Healy was still talking at this stage.

"She said ‘help me.’ It was an unfortunate accident and I assume that the handbrake had not been applied."

Another eyewitness David Twine, a roof tiler, was working on a property two doors away when he heard Mr Fox shout over to him and his colleagues.

He confirmed that the handbrake was not on and that he actually pulled it up when he arrived at the scene, some 50 yards away from where he was working at around 11.50am on Thursday June 4 this year.

Mrs Healy was taken by helicopter to the Royal Sussex County Hospital at Brighton but died shortly after 2pm.

She had been due to have a CT scan when her condition suddenly worsened.

Dr Paul Ransom from the Emergency department confirmed that at this stage there was nothing that could be done to save her.

She had suffered multiple injuries and internal bleeding.

Investigating officer PC Iain Lumbard confirmed that Mrs Healy had gone to the rear of the car after parking it on her drive.

It rolled backwards and she became trapped, being dragged across the footpath on Pococks Road by the drive on her house.

"She had failed to apply the handbrake. This was a tragic accident," he said.

Coroner Alan Craze said it was extremely rare for something like this to happen.

"We are all human beings, and human beings make errors," he said.

Conclusion: Mrs Healy died as a result of a Road Traffic Accident.

Mrs Healy’s death was met with shock when it was announced in June. Tributes were paid to her from all political parties. She had been a LibDem borough and county councillor for many years and had also served as Mayor and Council Leader.

She was also chair of the Eastbourne Samaritans at the time of her death.