A DOTING father-of-three was killed when he tried to save a friend from an oncoming articulated lorry only to end up being struck himself.

Ian Petrie, 31, was celebrating his birthday in Newmarket when he was in collision with an articulated truck driven by Michael Clinton in the town’s High Street last June.

Mr Petrie, of Scarlin Road, Bury St Edmunds, died on July 7 last year at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge as a result of complications arising from the multiple injuries suffered in the crash.

At the inquest into his death held yesterday, Mr Petrie’s mother Linda Petrie told how she did not hold Mr Clinton responsible for the accident which killed her son and made an impassioned plea for him to move on with his life.

Mr Petrie, a father to six-year-old Bradley, three-year-old Demi and Henry, two, and stepfather to 13-year-old Dylan, was part of a group of people who had left one of the town’s nightclubs shortly before the incident, which happened at 12.45am, the inquest heard.

The inquest was told that Mr Petrie feared a friend called Sid was at risk of being run over by Mr Clinton’s lorry. Mr Petrie went into the road and waved his arms to make Mr Clinton aware of the danger. But as Mr Clinton swerved to the right he collided with Mr Petrie.

Mrs Petrie told the inquest: “I do not blame him for what happened because he was put in an impossible situation.

“He would have seen the lorry heading towards Sid and would have been trying to catch the attention of the lorry driver. There’s no point in two lives destroyed.

“Ian graced us with three beautiful children and he was a wonderful dad.”

After the hearing, Mr Petrie’s father Andrew said while bearing the loss of their son had not been made any easier in time the inquest had at least provided a degree of “closure”.

Greater Suffolk Coroner Dr Peter Dean said: “The driver of the vehicle really could have done nothing to have averted this.”

He said Mr Petrie, who worked as a paint-sprayer, had suffered extensive injuries and recorded a narrative verdict that he died as a result of complications relating to those injuries.