03/09/2013

Driver Sentenced Over Fatal Bike Crash

A driver, who admitted that he was eating a sandwich just seconds before hitting a cyclist, has been sentenced to 240 hours of unpaid work and disqualified from driving for a year.

Joseph Wilkins, an off-duty firefighter, was cycling on a country road near Abingdon at around 21:00 when 30-year-old Paul Brown's Ford Focus car hit him from behind.

Brown admitted the incident, which happened in May 2012, and was cleared of causing death by dangerous driving.

The defendant also admitted that he had been eating a sandwich between five and ten seconds before the collision, but claimed that his "eyes were on the road" and theat Mr Wilkins had no lights or reflectors on his bicycle.

It is understood that the jury in trial concluded that the incident amounted to careless driving as apposed to dangerous.

(MH/CD)

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