A YOUNG soldier lost control of his motorbike and ploughed into a ditch when a locknut came loose.

Jack Prebble, 18, was slammed into a telegraph pole before being thrown into a field after he lost control of the vehicle.

His girlfriend, 15, who was riding pillion when the accident occurred, said she thought the back wheel had hit a pot hole.

She said: “The back began to wobble and Jack tried to take control.

“I remember falling off the back and waking up in a cow field.”

Stuart Sullivan-Dean, his friend who was riding behind, said he could see the rear wheel of the bike wobble before it came off the road and went into a ditch on the B3035 near Bishop’s Waltham.

Emergency services were called after Mr Sullivan-Dean flagged down a car for help.

Paramedics and police were soon on the scene and the Durley teenager was rushed to Southampton General Hospital but died soon afterwards.

Forensic vehicle examiner Colin Norris, who inspected Mr Prebble’s KST Moto 125cc, said the bike was in generally good condition.

The inquest heard that Mr Prebble was driving within the speed limit, at about 42mph.

But he found the locknut that held the rear back spindle in place was “extremely loose” and only held on by two or three threads.

Mr Norris said: “This would have caused the back wheel to wobble and ultimately lead to Mr Prebble losing control of the bike.

“Vibrations from the road would loosen the nut.

“If it had been tightened properly this would not have happened.”

He also said that manufacturers recommended that the nut be replaced every time work was carried out on the back wheel, as the forces acting upon it could lead to it losing grip strength, but this had not been done.

PC Cate Paling, who investigated Mr Prebble’s death, said that the bike’s rear tyre had been removed twice before the accident.

It was first worked on by M Cox Motorcycles in Eastleigh when the bike’s tyres had been replaced three months prior to the crash, and again by Mr Prebble and his father at a later date when they replaced the vehicle’s brake pads.

A post mortem report revealed that the army craftsman, of Durley Brook Road, had died of significant internal bleeding caused by blunt force trauma.

Coroner Grahame Short recorded a verdict of accidental death at the inquest this week.

At the time of his death in September, his heartbroken family said in a statement: “We are so proud of Jack for what he has achieved in his life, he could light up a room with his smile.

“We cannot find words to describe how we feel as a family, we are just completely heartbroken. Jack we love you, we are proud of you and every day we will miss you.”