Eyewitnesses at the inquiry into the death of former British Superbike Champion Steve Hislop have claimed they heard two low-flying jets in the area shortly before his helicopter went down.

School auxiliary Maureen Briggs, 63, told the inquiry at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, she was in her garden when she heard the noise of a helicopter, followed shortly by the sound of jets and then a loud bang.

And Alistair Cook, a childhood friend of Hislop’s, said he saw a small helicopter flying overhead in Teviot and then heard two jets. He told the court he heard a ‘hell of a noise’ over his mother’s house and was sure it was military jets.

Hislop lost his life in the crash which happened on July 30 2003 near his home of Hawick, Scotland. The inquiry, before Sheriff Principal Edward Bowden, is scheduled to last five days and continues.