A former bicycle courier who knocked over and killed a mother of two in east London last year has been cleared of her manslaughter.

Instead, 20-year-old Charlie Alliston, was found guilty of causing bodily harm by “wanton or furious driving”.

Kim Briggs, 44, was crossing the road on her lunch break when Alliston collided with her at 18mph on his secondhand fixed-gear bike.

She suffered serious head injuries and died a week later in hospital.

Ex-courier convicted for mowing down woman on his track bike https://t.co/sWsqWE3ztD — The Guardian (@guardian) August 23, 2017

Alliston later went online to defend himself following the crash, claiming Mrs Briggs was at fault before deleting the comment when he realised how serious her injuries were.

He told the Old Bailey his comments had been stupid and not thought through.

The verdict has created a mini storm on twitter – pedestrians versus cyclists.

Genuinely terrifying level of anti-cyclist vitriol and threats of violence brought out by #CharlieAlliston case. Media handling it terribly — Grunshaw (@MrGrunshaw) August 22, 2017

Charlie alliston is the normal for cyclists. I have not met one that feels they need to obey the rules. Why can they go through stop lights? — italiamucho (@dburns84uk) August 17, 2017

How on earth has Charlie Alliston got away with that!!! — Charlotte Hurt (@_Charlotte_Hurt) August 23, 2017

Alliston’s fixed-wheel track bike is the sort more commonly seen at an Olympic velodrome, being raced at great speeds.

In evidence, he told jurors he had no idea there were regulations that “fixies” have to have front brakes for use on the road.

In a statement read in court, Mr Briggs paid tribute to his “wonderful” wife, with whom he had a daughter aged 11 and a son aged 14.

The case has raised questions about safety and responsibility on the road.