Inquest hears football coach Kit Carson died of brain injury in crash

Football coach Kit Carson, who was killed in a car crash on the first day of his sex abuse trial, died from a traumatic brain injury, an inquest has heard.

Michael Sean Carson, known as 'Kit', was killed on January 7 when his car hit a tree on the A1303 at Bottisham near Cambridge.

His trial at Peterborough Crown Court had been due to start that morning.

The 75-year-old had denied 12 counts of indecent assault and one of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. The allegations involved 11 boys under the age of 16, between 1978 and 2009.

Cambridgeshire's senior coroner, David Heming, who opened and adjourned an inquest, said: "The circumstances as presently known are that the vehicle left the carriageway on to a wide grass verge and collided with a tree.

"Mr Carson suffered fatal injuries. The cause of death provided by the post-mortem examination is a traumatic brain injury.

"It's clear that there are further investigations to be done by Cambridgeshire Police concerning the circumstances of the accident.

"In addition, it's routine in these types of investigations for samples to be sent for toxicological analysis and results of these specialist examinations of blood normally take approximately six weeks."

Carson worked as a youth coach at Norwich City, Peterborough United and Cambridge United.

The hearing was adjourned until June 18 for a full inquest.