Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Killer crash cyclist ‘an accident waiting to happen’
Illegal rider jailed as judge slams attitude
THE “callous” cyclist who killed a mum-of-two while riding an illegal bike was branded an “accident waiting to happen” as he was jailed for 18 months.
Charlie Alliston, 20, knocked over Kim Briggs, 44, on his fixedwheel track bike with no front brake and shouted at her as she lay in the road. She died in hospital a week later of two “catastrophic” skull fractures.
Sending him to a young offender institution, Judge Wendy Joseph QC said: “You were an accident waiting to happen. The victim could have been any pedestrian.
“One of the most shocking things is you couldn’t and can’t apparently still see any fault in your cycling or judgment.”
During her lunch, Mrs Briggs had stepped into Old Street, East London, where green lights gave Alliston right of way.
Before she died in February last year, Alliston, 18 at the time, blamed her in a cycling forum, saying: “Yes it is her fault, but no she did not deserve it. Hopefully it is a lesson learned.”
But Judge Joseph said: “It was you, Charlie Alliston, that caused the accident,” adding: “You chose to ride at a speed ...everyone else would just have to get out of your way.”
Mark Wyeth QC, defending, said Alliston had signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and his father had died in his arms of a heart attack when he was 15. Alliston struggles to express his emotions, but had shown “genuine remorse” in a presentence report, he added.
He was admitted to hospital in July 2016 after fears he was going to hang himself.
Alliston, of Bermondsey, South East London, was cleared last month at the Old Bailey of manslaughter but convicted of causing bodily harm by “wanton or furious driving”. He had denied both charges.
Mrs Briggs’ widower Matthew, is calling for a law to recognise “death by dangerous cycling”.