Paramedics first thought a motorcycle crash victim was a pedestrian after finding him “lifeless” in the road with no crash helmet and no shoes, a jury heard.

In fact Marcus Best, 20, had been thrown from the back of a high-performance red Suzuki motorbike after his friend and the bike’s driver, Fahim Chaudhry, 22, collided at high-speed with a car making a u-turn along Longbridge Road, Barking.

The injuries sustained by Barking and Dagenham College student Mr Best, who was wearing only jeans with a casual top and is believed to have lost his helmet in mid-air, proved fatal.

Chaudhry, who was wearing bike leathers, survived the collision on Wednesday, June 15, 2011 despite suffering extensive injuries and appeared in Snaresbrook Crown Court on Thursday charged with causing death by dangerous driving.

Prosecutor Jane Carpenter read the statement given by witness Laura Weatherly, a paramedic who treated the two men at the scene, to the jury.

Ms Weatherly said: “The first thing that caught my eye was a person in the road that appeared lifeless.

“They were partially clothed and had no shoes on and no crash helmet. I first thought that a pedestrian had been hit by the car.”

She said she kept looking around for a second rider after seeing two crash helmets in the road but only one man in bike leathers. She recalled realising Mr Best, a motor vehicle student at Barking and Dagenham College, was the other rider and that “the distance he had travelled I thought incredible.”

Collision investigator Steven Gilbert told the court he believed the victim’s crash helmet had not been fitted properly and that it had come loose from his head as he was thrown from his seat.

He said: “The security strap was done up but was very loose and hadn’t been adjusted properly, allowing it to be taken on and off without undoing the strap.”

Driver of the car, Shamsul Islam, sustained minor injuries to his arm in the incident.

Chaudhry, of Seagry Road, Leytonstone, denies the charges against him. The trial continues.