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The driver of a taxi which struck a cyclist who died in Beare Green has been cleared of deliberately not stopping and reporting the 'tragic accident'.

Amir Hussain claimed he thought his vehicle had 'hit a deer' on the A24 - when it was actually Robert Worrall.

The 30-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene after being found at 1.25am on Sunday November 9 2014 lying next to his BMX bike near the Esso petrol station.

Police charged Mr Hussain with failing to stop at the scene of an accident and for not reporting the incident as they discovered scratch bicycle marks on his Kia.

(Image: Google)

Mr Hussain, of Horsham Road in Dorking, was found not guilty of these charges at Guildford Magistrates' Court on Monday (March 14) following a trial.

The court heard Mr Worrall had been with long-time friend Robert Heather since the afternoon on the day, when they drank five to six pints together.

They then went to the Kings Arms in Dorking where they became separated so Mr Heather could not say how much more alcohol his friend drank, but they also smoked cannabis.

The pair got a taxi back to the Esso garage on the A24 where they bought food and went on to Mr Worrall’s house.

However he then said he wanted to go back out to get some rolling tobacco and, although Mr Heather tried to persuade him otherwise, ‘that’s the last he sees of Mr Worrall,’ prosecutor Craig Warsama said.

Mr Worrall cycled to Esso where he bought two sandwiches, a packet of crisps and a lucky dip according to a shop worker, who also said he was ‘swaying and slurring his words’.

He was then seemingly hit by a vehicle as he crossed the carriageway west to east on a cut-through between Esso and a housing estate.

Suham Qiradar was the first driver to see Mr Worrall lying horizontally across the middle of the road and stopped to call emergency services.

He initially thought there was a cardboard box or similar object in the road, but as he began to go around it his passenger exclaimed ‘oh my God, it’s a person’.

In a statement read to the court Mr Qiradar said the deceased ‘was not dressed appropriately for cycling at night’.

The court heard it was a foggy night, with visibility of up to around 50 metres.

'I thought maybe I hit a deer'

Mr Hussain, a 61-year-old taxi driver, had dropped off passengers in Capel at around 1am and was driving back to Pixham Cricket Club for his last job of the night when he thought he hit a deer just past the Beare Green roundabout on the A24.

He pulled over further up the road and got out to look but could not see anything so he drove away.

Part of his Kia’s number plate came off and the bumper was also damaged, with scratches corresponding with Mr Worrall’s bike.

Mr Hussain, who has hit three deer in the area before, told the court: “I swear on my life I didn’t hit him but I felt something under my car.”

He added: “I thought I hit an animal, I thought maybe I hit a deer and he ran away same as before.”

(Image: Facebook)

'Tragic accident'

Sergeant Dominic Gibson, forensic collision investigation expert with Surrey Police, suggested Mr Hussain had hit Mr Worrall as he was cycling citing evidence such as the fact the cyclist’s legs were broken in different places as if they had been on the pedals.

However expert for the defence Mark Littler refuted this.

“The evidence suggests in my opinion the bike was lying on the floor at the time of the collision, not upright,” he said. “The most compelling of the evidence is the fact that there is no damage from the impact with the cyclist on the front [of the car], not the bike itself but the actual cyclist.”

And defence counsel Christopher Prior said: “There is no suggestion made, rather the opposite looking through the reports, that whatever he struck was Mr Hussain’s fault. It was a tragic accident.”

On the same night, officers from Surrey Police’s Road Policing Unit came across a distressed woman in the road about three miles from the scene who asked to be taken home.

After doing so, officers returned to check if anyone else was there but came across a Land Rover which had some damage to its front.

The car was registered to the Charlwood address where the woman had been dropped off and, after liaising with officers on the scene who confirmed it could have been involved, police returned to the house and arrested her on suspicion of failing to stop at the scene of an accident and drink driving.

However no evidence was found to connect the Land Rover with the fatal collision and the woman was told in December 2014 she would face no further action.