Tommy Hunter: Father hit by car sustained ‘unsurvivable’ injuries, inquest hears

A man who was found dead after being hit by a car while walking home from a night out more than two years ago suffered “unsurvivable injuries”, an inquest has heard.

Tommy Hunter’s body was found by his friends in a hedge in Burton Road, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, after he did not return home in December 2023.

Speaking at an inquest into his death on Tuesday, forensic pathologist Dr Michael Biggs said injuries to Hunter’s head would have been effectively fatal “at the point of impact”.

In March 2025, Brandon Beesla admitted driving a vehicle, a Pontiac Firebird, which was in a condition likely to cause danger of injury in Burton Road on the night Hunter, 27, went missing.

Speaking at the inquest at Rutland and North Leicestershire Coroner’s Court on Tuesday, Biggs said he had “unusually” been asked to visit the scene by detectives after Hunter was found by friends.

He said the civil engineer was “within some very dense bushes” by the side of the road when he was found.

When he was removed from the foliage, the pathologist told the court Hunter had suffered injuries to his left leg, which he said was likely to be the initial point of impact with the car.

A secondary injury to his head caused by the windscreen of the car would have been “essentially unsurvivable”, Biggs added.