'People have zero respect': Cyclist who 'killed mum-of-two then blamed victim was riding Olympics-style bike with no front brakes'
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A "dangerous" cyclist knocked down and killed a mum-of-two while riding on an Olympics-style bike with no front brake, a court heard today.
Charlie Alliston hit Kim Briggs at about 20mph on a busy City street then blamed his victim saying people have "zero respect", the court heard.
Alliston, who was 18 at the time, was riding a black "Planet X" fixed wheel track pedal with no front brake - which is not allowed on the road without modification, the Old Bailey was told.
Mrs Briggs was crossing Old Street, in east London, on February 12 last year while she was on her lunch break.
Emergency services were called to the scene, and took Mrs Briggs, 44, to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London.
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But she died from her "catastrophic" injuries a week later, on February 19, having suffered two skull fractures and bleeding on the brain.
The Evening Standard ran a story the same afternoon, February 12 2016, about the lunchtime crash and her condition.
Duncan Penny QC, prosecuting, said: "It appears that he posted the following comment on the Evening Standard website under the name 'CharlieFxckingA' at about 5pm that night."
The Old Bailey heard Alliston wrote: "Hey guys, just thought I'd comment on seeing this as I was the cyclist involved.
"May I just add that in no way whatsoever was this my fault.
"I crossed on a green light, once I saw the pedestrian step foot off the pavement I shouted to warn her to stop.
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"She acknowledged my presence but proceeded into the road and looked back into her phone.
"By then I've shouted the second time but she ignored me.
"Traffic was flowing the opposite way so she stopped dead in the middle of my path, I didn't have enough time to dismount and by the time I have braked I still ended up colliding into her.
"I had no way of going around her, if I would of gone left I would have gone head first into a stationary lorry in its loading bay, if I would of gone right I would have collided into incoming traffic."
He added: "I feel bad due to the seriousness of her injuries but I can put my hands up and say this was not my fault.
"I tried to manoeuvre left between her and the lorry but she jumped back a fraction which caused us to collide.
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"So for anyone commenting about cyclists jumping reds, being careless or reckless.
"Please find out what really happened before making judgments, cheers."
Jurors heard he also wrote a number of posts, using the same name, to a thread on the website "London Fixed Gear and Single Speed Forum".
In them, he is said to have written: "I warned for a second time to pretty much get the fuck outta my way, which she didn't.
"We collided pretty hard, our heads hit together.
"It's a pretty serious incident so I won't bother saying, 'oh she deserved it, it is her fault'.
"Yes it is her fault, but no she did not deserve it. Hopefully it is a lesson learned on her behalf."
He claimed to have several witnesses who defended him, the court heard.
Alliston also allegedly wrote: "She put not only hers, but my life in danger.
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"But as usual, there's always the odd wanker that has to blame the cyclist.
"On the Evening Standard's article i have already had a lot of shit about it.
"Everyone's always quick to judge and run to help the so called 'Victim', but never the other person in the situation, IE me."
Alliston also claimed "even every officer I spoke to admitted there was nothing I could of done", the jury heard.
Jurors at the Old Bailey were shown CCTV video of the collision in Alliston's trial, as Mrs Briggs' widower Matthew looked on.
Duncan Penny QC, prosecuting, said: "She stepped out into the road and tried to cross towards the other side. She didn't make it across the road.
"The reason she wasn't successful is that this defendant, who was unlawfully riding along Old Street at nearly 20mph on a fixed wheel track bicycle, not equipped with a front brake, was unable to avoid a collision with her.
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"That collision resulted ultimately a week later in her death."
Reconstructions of the crash established if he had a front brake, he would have been able to stop in time, jurors heard.
Mr Penny said: "The Crown's case is that the defendant is guilty of her manslaughter.
"That is not only because what the defendant was doing caused her death, but also because it was both unlawful and dangerous."
Alliston was riding a track bike, similar to those used around the Velodrome in the Olympics and other cycling events, the court heard.
Mr Penny said: "You are not allowed to ride such a bicycle on the road.
"The Crown suggests that what the defendant was doing in the circumstances known to him - that is, riding a fixed wheel bike without a front brake through a busy area of central London at nearly 20mph at lunch time, when hazards such as pedestrians stepping out into the road might well be expected to occur in front of him, requiring him to act - was dangerous.
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"What he was doing was such that all sober and reasonable people, knowing the circumstances as he knew to be, would inevitably realise it subjected other people to the risk of some harm."
Alliston was interviewed about a month later, and told police he had been riding a fixed wheel bike since 2014.
Mr Penny said: "You cannot freewheel on a 'fixie', as they are called. You have to keep pedalling, as you no doubt will have seen watching the cyclists having crossed the finish line, they keep going around and around.
"This defendant said he had been riding a fixed wheel bike since 2014. And he said indeed, that he himself had removed the front brake from his previous fixed wheel bike."
Jurors heard he had tweeted in February 2015 about doing so, writing, "The time when you first take your brakes off and feeling like you're in a @lucasbrunelle movie".
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He bought the 'Planet X' bike for £470 in January 2016, a month before the collision, from a man called William Ringwood through the 'London Fixed Gear and Single Speed website'.
Mr Penny continued: "Without a front brake, that bike couldn't lawfully be ridden on a public road."
Although fixed wheel bikes could legally be ridden on the road, they needed to be fitted with a front brake, as they are harder to bring to a halt, the court heard.
Mr Penny said: "That's why you see Sir Chris Hoy or Laura Trott still riding around lap after lap, long after the finish line has been crossed."
Turning to the victim, he said: "Her injuries were catastrophic."
She was taken straight to theatre after arriving at hospital, and had suffered two skull fractures and bleeding on the brain.
Mrs Briggs underwent surgery twice that day, and by evening was on a ventilator in intensive care.
The prosecutor said: "It was already clear that she had suggested an extremely severe brain injury. She made no significant recovery, and ultimately died a week later."
Alliston, of Bermondsey, south east London, denies manslaughter, and causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving contrary to section 35 of the Offences Against The Person Act 1861.