MYSTERY surrounds the death of a cyclist found dead on a country lane on a stormy winter afternoon.

Jim Tiles, 69, was discovered by a passing motorist lying tangled in his bicycle at the junction with a side road near Micheldever on January 13.

He had suffered a fractured skull but there was no evidence of a collision with another vehicle or sudden illness to explain the fall. There were no witnesses.

The coroner decided Mr Tiles had been blown off his bike in the high winds.

Graham Pursey and Lynda Dalby, in statements, told the inquest in Winchester that they had seen Mr Tiles on his bike only a few minutes before Patricia Knight spotted him lying in the road at about 4pm.

Mrs Knight, of Station Road, Chilbolton, said: “The weather was dire; very heavy rain and hailstones. It was very dark for that time of day, almost black. It was a dreadful day. It was incredibly windy.”

She called 999 and felt for a pulse but there was none. Mrs Knight got a blanket and umbrella from the boot of her car and placed it over Mr Tiles to wait for the air ambulance, ambulance and police.

Dr Adnan Al-Badri, consultant pathologist, said the cause of death was a haemorrhage due to trauma to the side of his head when it hit the road. “He probably died quickly,” said Dr Al-Badri.

American-born Mr Tiles was former Professor of Philosophy from the University of Hawaii living in Micheldever with his wife Mary. A keen cyclist he was cycling home on Borough Hill Road. He was working as a maths tutor. Mr Tiles was a keen cyclist and was wearing a cycling helmet and high visibility clothing.

PC Tracey Saunders, forensic collision investigator, based at Eastleigh, said there was no evidence of a collision with anyone else. “It was a very strange crash, a strange scene. There was a man on a bike in the middle of a junction with very little else around it.

“I would have expected if he had been going at speed to have lost control and crashed. He would have separated from the bicycle and gone off the road,” added PC Saunders.

Senior Coroner Grahame Short recording a verdict of accidental death said it was “a mystifying case.”

Mr Short blamed the weather for causing the death. “It is not clear whether it was the wind or the rain or a combination of both.”

After the hearing Mrs Tiles said: “I am not sure why he was where he was in the junction away from the road (he was taking). He was a careful cyclist. Why did he lose control? It doesn’t add up.”