A police officer called to help colleagues who had been restraining a man for at least an hour has told an inquest into his death how she saw his condition worsen.

Krystian Kilkowski died in the early hours of his 32nd birthday after suffering complications while being restrained by police in Diss.

An inquest into his death, lasting four weeks, heard how Mr Kilkowski was suffering from an acute behavioural disturbance believed to have been brought on by amphetamines.

Police were called after he was reported behaving erratically outside his home in Cotman Close, before fleeing officers, who eventually caught up with him close to the Morrisons supermarket.

The court previously heard he was detained under the mental health act and held to the ground for "at least 40 minutes".

As the inquest continued, PC Catherine Charles-Farrow described seeing his condition decline, after the Polish-born man had chewed through his own tongue.

By the time PC Charles-Farrow arrived at the scene, Mr Kilkowski had been held to the ground for more than an hour as officers waited for an ambulance to take him to hospital.

In a written statement, she said: "When I arrived another officer told me he had chewed through his flesh and blood.

"I noticed a lot of blood in Krystian's mouth and his head had turned almost blue... he was still struggling a lot."

PC Charles-Farrow was in Wymondham when she answered the call to support officers at the scene and arrived around 30 minutes later - beating an ambulance that had also been called.

She said she had "expected" paramedics to have been there by the time she arrived, but that the crew had suffered delays.

Meanwhile, the court heard that the East of England Ambulance Service Trust was operating under what is called "surge red" - meaning it was dealing with serious pressure and with high levels of staff sickness.

Laura Denman, a despatch team leader in EEAST's control room, said she had picked up a phone call from a police office at the scene and consequently upgraded the urgency of the ambulance - re-routing a nearby crew to Mr Kilkowski.

By this point, the ambulance had already missed its 30-minute response target for category two calls - which Mr Kilkowski's case had been classified as.

Asked whether the response would have been even more delayed had she not "happened to be passing" the ringing phone, she replied: "Correct."

The inquest continues.