AN INQUEST has opened into the death of a male motorcyclist who died in a crash in Ashley Heath.

Ashley James Long, 32, was pronounced dead at the scene of the collision on February 23, 2024.

Senior coroner for Dorset, Racheal Griffin, opened the inquest into his death at Bournemouth Town Hall on March 1.

Coroner’s officer, Grace Monro, told Dorset Coroner’s Court Ashley was a single man working as a labourer and lived in Hamilton Close, Portslade in Brighton.

On the day of the incident Ashley was riding a black Kawasaki in Horton Road when he collided with the front side of a vehicle at around 5.20pm.

It was previously reported the vehicle was a black Vauxhall Grandland, and the driver, a man aged in his 70s from Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, did not sustain any serious injuries.

Police, fire and the ambulance service attended the scene, and the road was closed to motorists and pedestrians.

Ashley was left with ‘catastrophic injuries’, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

A police officer formerly identified Ashley using facial comparison of his driving licence.

A post-mortem examination conducted by Dr Stolte at Holly Tree Lodge found his provisional cause of death to be multiple head injuries due to road traffic collision.

Ms Griffins said police investigations are ongoing and an update will be requested within four weeks of the inquest opening.

The inquest was adjourned until October 15, however due to the police investigations this date is subject to change.

A Dorset Police spokesperson said no arrests have been made and enquiries are ongoing. 

Sergeant Richard Stroud, of the roads policing team, previously asked any witnesses to come forward as well as motorists with dashcam footage. 

Anyone with information can contact Dorset Police at www.dorset.police.uk, via email at scit@dorset.pnn.police.uk or by calling 101, quoting incident number 23:503.

Alternatively, independent charity Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously online at Crimestoppers-uk.org or by calling Freephone 0800 555 111.