POLICE officers gave up chasing two men involved in a late night fight in Bolton town centre long before the men attempted to escape by crossing a steep culvert, an inquest was told.

Graham McNeill Eyres, aged 20, died after falling into, or attempting to jump across the culvert which runs between Bank Street and Crown Street.

He fell 30ft into the stream below, was knocked unconscious and drowned in just inches of water.

Mr Eyres and his older brother Colin had been on a night out in Bolton early on April 20, 2002. But while on Bridge Street the brothers got into a fight with four other men.

Police officers Det Con Khalid Rahim and Det Con James Houston, who were in uniform at the time, told how they were on duty in the town centre when they were alerted to the fight.

Det Con Rahim described how they gave chase to the Eyres brothers, following them up Bridge Street and left into Deansgate. He said the pair were some distance ahead of them and when they turned the corner into Bank Street he and his colleague gave up the chase.

Det Con Rahim told the jury of four women and three men that he then radioed through descriptions of the men they had been following, and returned to the scene of the fight outside Woolworths. But before he arrived back in Bridge Street, he was informed by radio that a man fitting the description of one those he had been chasing had been arrested in Crown Street.

Three other officers PC Dermot Murray, PC Fran McArdle and PC John Nicol who were also at the scene, gave evidence at the hearing. PC Murray and PC McArdle told how they picked up the radio message and gave chase to a male fitting that description who they had seen Bank Street car park.

They caught up with him part way up Crown Street and detained him until other officers arrived to identify him.

PC Murray said: "He just sat down in the pavement. He was very agitated, and kept shouting that he wanted an ambulance. Eventually we saw that he had a serious injury to the back of his right calf and called an ambulance for him, but he still did not stop shouting."

All three officers were present until the ambulance arrived shortly afterwards and denied that Mr Eyres had made any reference to another person or that any of the police officers at the scene had made physical contact with him as he had previously alleged.

Colin Eyres was taken to hospital but left before being treated and, together with a friend went to look for his brother.

In a statement read to the inquest he said his pleas to the police urging them to look into the culvert for his brother were ignored. He and his friend found his brother's body lying in the culvert over two hours later.

The hearing continues.