A driver who died when his car crashed into a wall while being pursued by police has been named locally as Peter O'Reilly.

The father-of-two, who was in his 40s, was being chased by patrol cars after failing to stop on Saturday night.

His Ford Focus hit the wall outside Watts Almshouses in Maidstone Road, Rochester, opposite Rochester Avenue, and Mr O'Reilly died at the scene.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission was involved, but the investigation has since been passed to Kent Police to deal with internally.

Flowers have since been placed at the scene of the crash, along with messages paying tribute to Mr O'Reilly.

One read: "A true gentleman of the world. You'll be so sorely missed by so many people. A man who brought light into the lives of everyone he met."

In the aftermath, people living in Maidstone Road spoke of their shock.

Olivia Hill, 37, said: "A guy came right into the wall and it just kind of exploded. I don't know where he came from, it was extremely loud.

"The car was basically smashed right where all the rubble is now. It was like a massive explosion."

Alex Thrith, 45, said: "It was unbelievable. We heard a massive screech of tyres and then an enormous bang.

"I thought 'that was an accident' and I went to call 999 but the police had already turned up. They must have been there in five seconds."

He said it looked like officers were performing CPR for about 20 minutes. The air ambulance was also called.

Mr Thrith's wife Kim, 57, was in the back room when she heard the bang.

"A sad moment was watching the air ambulance helicopter take off without carrying the patient. That told its own story..." - Sylvia Riding

"It's normally alright (on this road), this is the first accident I've seen along here and we've been here since last December," she said.

Sylvia Riding was with her sister Sandra, who lives in Albert Road, Rochester, when they came across the incident.

The air ambulance had landed in a field and they saw barriers blocking off the road by the junction of Watts Avenue.

She said: "When looking at how far the debris was scattered, it was going for yards down the road. We were taken aback by how much damage it did.

"A sad moment was watching the air ambulance helicopter take off without carrying the patient. That told its own story. Someone is mourning today."

Her sister, Sandra Miller, 40, said: "We weren’t able to get too close, but we were driving, trying to come up the road and we saw two fire engines and a very serious looking police barricade. That alerted us to the fact something very serious had happened.

“We came round the other way and we could see, looking down Rochester Avenue, a presence of emergency vehicles and coming further up Maidstone Road, evidence of a very serious incident.

“We walked down a few metres to see the helicopter and the fact it was clearly in no hurry by that stage, in preparing to take off and leave, spoke volumes in that we were probably looking at a fatality.”

A Kent Police spokesman said at the time: "Police are currently at the scene of a serious collision on Maidstone Road in Rochester, which occurred shortly before 7pm.

"The Independent Police Complaints Commission is attending the scene as there was a pursuit of the vehicle after it had failed to stop for police in Delce Road.”

The spokesman added today: "The IPCC has assessed this case and deemed it appropriate for local investigation. The case will now be investigated by Kent Police."

Any witnesses who haven’t already spoken to police are asked to contact the serious collision investigation unit on 01622 798538.

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