THE boyfriend of a pedestrian who was hit by three cars while crossing the unlit A590 dual carriageway says he blames himself for her death.

Andrew Hearn broke down in tears as he described to an inquest how he persuaded multiple sclerosis sufferer Nichola Tyson to walk from a friend's house in Ackenthwaite, near Milnthorpe, towards Kendal - instead of catching a bus.

The hearing heard the condition meant 35-year-old Miss Tyson found it difficult and often painful to walk long distances.

The pair, who were wearing dark clothing, had been attempting to cross the road at Heaves in the pitch black when Miss Tyson received 'a glancing blow' from a van before being hit again by two more cars as she lay injured on the road.

"Looking back I blame myself," said Mr Hearn, who lived with Miss Tyson at Bleaswood Road, Oxenholme.

"If we had waited at the bus stop she would be here now. She mentioned we should get a taxi but I said it was too expensive. It's all my fault.

"I was asking her to do too much. I didn't listen to her."

The three motorists involved in the accident, at around 7.30pm on March 1 last year, gave evidence at Miss Tyson's inquest at Kendal County Hall.

Daniel Thompson, a delivery driver for a tea and coffee merchant in Penrith, said he was approaching the Brettargh Holt roundabout on the eastbound carriageway when he heard a 'big bang and smash'.

"I didn't see anything at all and at first instinct I thought I had hit a dog or an animal," he said.

Mr Thompson put the hazard lights on his VW Caddy van and approached the crash scene. But it was not until he got closer that he saw Miss Tyson lying in the road, with Mr Hearn nearby.

He told the hearing Mr Hearn began punching him in the face saying: 'You killed her'.

"He was swearing and shouting. I was in shock," said Mr Thompson.

Mr Hearn was later arrested for assaulting Mr Thompson. No further details about the arrest were given at the hearing.

Tragically, Miss Tyson was then struck by David Millar, an accountant at GlaxoSmithKline in Ulverston, who was driving an Audi A4, and football coach Thomas Penny.

Mr Millar, from Kendal, said: "I saw a van with hazard lights on so I moved over to the next lane to give room and saw what I thought was rags in the road. As I got closer and I saw black hair but it was too late to react."

Mr Penny, from Barrow, added: "If anyone could have done anything different they would have."

Miss Tyson's mother, Josephine, told all three drivers she did not blame them.

She said she was 'surprised' to learn her daughter had walked that distance and added her 'legs would have been aching'.

"There's a bus that goes all the way along that road every hour so if they waited that hour she would still be here," she said.

And she directly asked Mr Hearn: "Why didn't you wait?"

He replied: "I don't have an answer, sorry."

The inquest was told the couple visited the house of David Taylor and Marsha Driscoll in the village of Ackenthwaite.

Mr Hearn said he had drunk cans of San Miguel lager and between them the four had smoked eight to ten joints of cannabis.

The hearing heard Miss Tyson used the drug almost on a daily basis to help alleviate some of symptoms of her condition.

Toxicology reports found traces of the drug in her system, but there was no evidence of alcohol in her blood.

The couple left the house and had intended to catch a bus to Kendal but after waiting for 20 minutes outside Dallam School they carried on along the A6 looking for further stops before reaching the A590.

The inquest heard from several motorists who swerved to avoid the couple as they walked along unlit sections of the A6 from Heversham towards the A590.

One said Mr Hearn appeared drunk and had stepped out into the road waving his hands erratically.

Mr Hearn said his memory of the fatal crash was hazy and all he could remember was crossing the first two lanes of the road before the first car hit Miss Tyson.

"The next thing I remember the police were arresting me. It was like I blacked out," he said.

PC Marc Holmes, based in Kendal, was the first officer on the scene of the crash.

He said Mr Hearn was 'uncontrollably hysterical', obstructive' and 'constantly in my ear saying arrest someone for murder'.

PC Steven Wakefield, a collision investigator, said the cannabis was 'unlikely to have caused impairment' to Miss Tyson and that the drivers 'did not stand a chance' to react.

He added she was likely to have still been alive when she was hit the second time.

Coroner Kally Cheema concluded Miss Tyson, a former hotel worker, died as a result of an accident.