A contractor was crushed to death on top of a lift on a ferry as it underwent its annual refit at Falmouth Docks, an inquest in Truro has heard.

Stephen Summerside, 44, from Sunderland, was last seen alive on CCTV on January 11, manually opening the doors of the lift shaft before stepping on top of the car.

Colleagues on the deck above then called the lift up but he became trapped between the top of the lift and the deck above it.

Workmates spent several hours searching the MV Ulysses, owned by Irish Ferries, before Mr Summerside's body was found, and crew members and paramedics spent an hour carrying out CPR but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

An inquest jury yesterday heard it was not clear why Mr Summerside did not activate a safety mechanism, which switched between normal and inspection mode, and would have prevented the lift from moving.

On the first day of the three day inquest, a jury heard that Mr Summerside died of traumatic asphyxia after getting crushed between the lift car and top of the shaft.

He was last seen at about 8.15am on the day of the incident by co-workers, and CCTV showed him getting onto the lift at about 8.20am. His body was found at about 11am.

Doctor Russel Delaney, who carried out a post mortem on Mr Summerside, told the inquest: "It would have been a relatively quick unconsciousness and death."

The inquest continues.