Charlie Alliston had been riding fixed-gear track bicycle with no front brake, which is not legal on road without modification
A “dangerous” cyclist knocked down and killed a pedestrian on a busy London street and then blamed his victim, saying people have “zero respect”, a court heard.
Charlie Alliston, then aged 18, was said to be going nearly 20mph when he mowed down Kim Briggs as she crossed Old Street, east London, on 12 February last year. The 44-year-old mother of two was on her lunch break when the crash happened.
Alliston was riding a “fixie”, a fixed-gear track bicycle with no front brake, which is not legal on the road without modification.
He allegedly shouted at Briggs to “get out of the way” twice before their heads smashed together. Briggs suffered brain injuries including two skull fractures and died a week later.
After seeing a newspaper report about the incident, Alliston posted a comment online claiming he tried to warn her but she had “ignored” him and “stopped dead” in his path.
He wrote: “I feel bad due to the seriousness of her injuries but I can put my hand up and say this is not my fault.”
On an internet forum, he described how their heads collided and hers “ricocheted” into his. He wrote: “It is a pretty serious incident so I won’t bother saying she deserved it. It was her fault but she did not deserve it.”
He went on to claim Briggs had been on her mobile phone. He complained: “Everyone is quick to judge and help the so-called victim but not the other person in the situation.
“It all happened so fast and even at a slow speed there was nothing I could do. I just wish people would stop making judgments. People either think they are invincible or have zero respect for cyclists.”
Jurors at the Old Bailey trial were shown CCTV footage of the collision, as Briggs’s widower, Matthew, looked on.
