THE body of a man who was hit by a train as he walked home from the pub lay next to a railway track for nearly seven hours before being discovered, an inquest heard.

And his beloved dog who survived the ordeal was later found with a severed lead scratching the door of a nearby house with its paw.

Charlie Harriet is thought to have used the track in Great Bedwyn as a shortcut to get to the Transit van he lived inside in the village, near Marlborough.

The 49-year-old had moved his vehicle on the day he died from Frog Lane, where he had been staying for around a year, to near the canal in Mill Lane on the other side of Great Bedwyn.

The inquest at Salisbury Coroners’ Court heard on Friday that in the hours leading up to his death last year on Saturday, August 15, he had been with his dog in a pub in the village.

“He was a creature of habit and since living in the area went to The Three Tuns every evening,” said John Wilson, coroner liaison officer for the British Transport Police.

“He had four pints of Becks and spoke to the landlord that night and was his normal self. He was well thought of, kept himself to himself and sat with his dog and normally left at 11.30pm.

“This was the first night in there since moving his van. At the previous site there were no facilities.”

Mr Harriet, who was formerly known as Russell Clarke before changing his name by deed poll in May, was last seen leaving the pub at around 11.30pm. He is believed to have then walked along the footpath from St Mary’s Church to get to the train track.

At 1am a resident living at a house nearby woke to the sound of a dog scratching their door and took the pet belonging to Mr Harriet in and has cared for it ever since.

Two trains passed at 11.45pm and 12.45am, but it is not clear which one struck Mr Harriet, who was born in Sutton, Surrey and was days away from turning 50.

A train driver raised the alarm after seeing a body near the track at 7.39am on Saturday morning. Police and ambulance crews arrived at 8.15am but Mr Harriet was pronounced dead. He was found half a mile away from the train station and 40metres away from the bridge, not far from his van.

A post-mortem concluded Mr Harriet suffered multiple traumatic injuries. A toxicology report found the alcohol he had in his system was equivalent to being twice the drink-drive limit.

In a statement read to the court by Mr Harriet’s father David Clarke, of Lydiard Residential Park, in Hook near Royal Wootton Bassett, the address Mr Harriet was registered at, it said he last saw his son four days before he died and had been in contact through text.

The statement said: “He seemed absolutely fine. I had no cause for any concern.

“I was aware money was starting to get a bit tight and he was looking for a job. He text me on August 13 and said his van had passed its MOT and would enable him to attend a job interview in Newbury on August 17.”

Mr Harriet left no notes and his doctor had no concerns about his health.

He never explained to his father why he had changed his name, but according to detective constable Anthony Taylor, of Sussex Police, he left the area after threats were made to him from a man from Brighton with ‘a chequered history for violence and firearms.’

Recording a conclusion of accidental death, senior coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon David Ridley said: “Charlie died when he was struck on a railway track by a train heading northeast towards Reading at some time between 11.45pm on Friday, August 14 and 12.45am on Saturday, August 15, 2015 to the north of Mill Lane, Great Bedwyn.

“It was more likely than not Charlie was using the railway line as a shortcut from the pub, back to where his motorhome was parked.

“We do not know what happened or if in fact he was aware of the approaching train which struck him.

“I find no evidence to support a finding that he intended to take his own life or commit suicide, not even on the balance of probabilities.

“It is more likely than not the alcohol did have a bearing on his judgement, reaction, response times and coordination and therefore contributed to the incident involving the train.”